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Money In The Bank - O2 London


Merzbow

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I haven’t attended a live event in a few years, so perhaps I’m not with the times, but can anyone explain to me the background to these exorbitant ticket prices for WWE shows now? I remember getting a 2nd row seat to Smackdown at the O2 in 2013-ish for around £80 (which I thought was kind of pricey). Seems you’d now pay that for a nosebleed seat if you’re lucky (and I’d honestly rather watch it on TV than do that). I didn’t think WWE was even that popular these days. I get there is pent up demand after the pandemic but come on… how are so many people willing to pay this.

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8 hours ago, Maikeru said:

I haven’t attended a live event in a few years, so perhaps I’m not with the times, but can anyone explain to me the background to these exorbitant ticket prices for WWE shows now? I remember getting a 2nd row seat to Smackdown at the O2 in 2013-ish for around £80 (which I thought was kind of pricey). Seems you’d now pay that for a nosebleed seat if you’re lucky (and I’d honestly rather watch it on TV than do that). I didn’t think WWE was even that popular these days. I get there is pent up demand after the pandemic but come on… how are so many people willing to pay this.

I don't think it's necessarily a WWE issue but a live event issue. You look up prices for Beyoncé or Coldplay or Harry Styles or anyone else playing similar venues and its just as exorbitant. I honestly think that the death of ticket touting had made it possible. The possibility of charging stupid money has been bought in house. My ex worked for a tout for a few years and they would charge these prices for front row/second row after spending hours on the phone/Internet securing the best tickets. Now anyone can just go online and buy the best tickets themselves but have to pay the stupid money straight out of the box.

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8 hours ago, Maikeru said:

I haven’t attended a live event in a few years, so perhaps I’m not with the times, but can anyone explain to me the background to these exorbitant ticket prices for WWE shows now? I remember getting a 2nd row seat to Smackdown at the O2 in 2013-ish for around £80 (which I thought was kind of pricey). Seems you’d now pay that for a nosebleed seat if you’re lucky (and I’d honestly rather watch it on TV than do that). I didn’t think WWE was even that popular these days. I get there is pent up demand after the pandemic but come on… how are so many people willing to pay this.

WWE just following the trend. Ten years ago you could get good tickets to bands (big name ones) for £40 now 40 often gets you at the back of an arena at best, often no ticket at all. It stopped me going to bands really, the prices are high but they seem to be selling more tickets than ever. 

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As I understand it, over the last ten years or so, touts revealed to major vendors that they were wildly undervaluing tickets. Everyone was charging what they thought was a reasonable price, only for touts to make a killing by selling them for three or four times the amount. Cottoning on, those in power just decided to increase their prices and make that extra money themselves rather than allowing the touts to rake it in. Supply and demand. If people are willing to pay stupid prices, most are going to cash in on that.

It must be super shit for the younger generation though. I'd have been gutted as a student if I couldn't attend so many gigs and events because I was priced out. Thank fuck this happened when the idea of an 11 pm curfew makes me think twice anyway.

That's where Tony Khan has played a blinder with Wembley. Those prices were sound. He could've tried to milk everyone for all they were worth - like WWE did at Clash at the Castle - but this way he gives everyone the chance to attend and is far more likely to fill the stadium. Both of which will likely have far more value long-term than a quick cash grab.

Edited by Supremo
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20 minutes ago, Supremo said:

As I understand it, over the last ten years or so, touts revealed to major vendors that they were wildly undervaluing tickets. Everyone was charging what they thought was a reasonable price, only for touts to make a killing by selling them for three or four times the amount. Cottoning on, those in power just decided to increase their prices and make that extra money themselves rather than allowing the touts to rake it in. Supply and demand. If people are willing to pay stupid prices, most are going to cash in on that.

It must be super shit for the younger generation though. I'd have been gutted as a student if I couldn't attend so many gigs and events because I was priced out. Thank fuck this happened when the idea of an 11 pm curfew makes me think twice anyway.

That's where Tony Khan has played a blinder with Wembley. Those prices were sound. He could've tried to milk everyone for all they were worth - like WWE did at Clash at the Castle - but this way he gives everyone the chance to attend and is far more likely to fill the stadium. Both of which will likely have far more value long-term than a quick cash grab.

I for one am very thankful that the ticket prices for All in London are reasonable. As you say it gives everyone who wants to go a chance at getting tickets cheap or expensive. The E are just to expensive. The last tickets on ticketmaster were £600 odd just now for Money in the Bank.  

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Isn’t the whole dynamic pricing a big part of it too? Often find the week of the event things are cheaper as opposed to when they first go on sale. We picked up floor seats at CATC for 60 odd quid the week of the event which was same price we had paid for further away seats (Ticketmaster lets you cancel worse tickets if you find a better seat for same price or more).

Our combo ticket wasn’t too bad for this event. Nosebleeds but 70 odd quid for two events is very good.

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Yeh my ticket for CATC was £60.   I thought that was pretty reasonable.

PPV tickets have been very expensive for a long time.   Just because front row for Raw is £90 doesn't mean a PPV would be.   Even without the massive demand for tickets like MITB had, a PPV front row ticket will be $500 in America where a Raw might be $100 in the same arena and that's been the case for a long time.

I paid $120 for a Hell in a Cell ticket 10 years ago and that was in the lower tier.

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7 hours ago, BigJag said:

What's the premise of these? It's it an "evening with" type event?

Yeah just Mark Callaway on stage on his own telling stories and he takes questions from some people 

The host only comes out at the start and to bring the mic around for the Q&A 

The entrance is great 

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There’s also a bit of a monopoly situation going on with ticket vendors. Like in the UK and US your two main options for a large scale event are typically Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Ticketmaster is owned by Live Nation. They’re totally not price fixing though. No sir. There are multiple ongoing lawsuits against them in America for all of their shady practises, with Taylor Swift in particular being one of their major critics. 

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