WrestleMania 43 - Saudi

[mim731]

11 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Who had Vince McMahon: Babyface on their bingo card for 2025?

Tweener at best I'd say. 

[DavidB6937]

And you know who families love? BRRRRRRRRRRRROCK LESNAR!

[Infinity Land]

15 minutes ago, Kamran said:

I already feel like the importance of WrestleMania is starting to lessen with it going 2 nights, SummerSlam is now 2 nights and with more stadium shows for other PLEs. There was talk about the Rumble going 2 nights as well, I feel like it's overkill but as long as fans are buying the tickets, it won't change.

Then there was this quote from WWE re their pricing strategy this week: 

(Source; Yahoo Sports)

Looking at OnLocation for WrestleMania next year, they've got some 'Elite Experiences' starting from $37,500, absolutely bonkers! Obviously, WWE think there is a lot more money to be made from fans, it doesn't seem to be causing any issues yet but it will be interesting to see how much longer they can go selling out everywhere as prices continue to rise.

 

There's also the bit about site fees. They're prioritising the highest bidders. 

“If we have a St. Louis going up against a Des Moines, Iowa… you have to pay for us to come back or else we’ll take it to another town,” he warned

Even those that seemingly had deals done have been shafted. New Orleans was meant to be getting WrestleMania. The Indianapolis deal included a WrestleMania. It's now looking to be Vegas, Saudi, then who knows. 

[Merzbow]

Hopefully they fuck over enough states that they get told to piss off from them for good.

[The King of Old School]

Wrestlemania in Saudi sounds dreadful.

[LCJ]

Disappointing but not surprising. Money talks as we know. Not sure London will ever get a Wrestlemania now. Even if it did, the ticket prices would be sky high.

[RedTwoster]

22 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

Depending on how Wrestlepalooza does, I reckon they might try and pivot to that. Probably bump it up to two nights and all the other events too because why not. They'll probably think it's a close enough name to trick people.

Even if it does well, it simply doesn’t have the legacy of ‘Mania, so their fans will feel it. Take your audience for granted, you’ll get bitten in the arse. Between that and the ticket prices, they’re going to create barriers for a lot of people when it comes to watching them live and that’ll surely affect them. 

[DazzM]

Do you know what's even more annoying? 

The fact that the excuse for a non-us Wrestlemania, was always "The Logistics...", "The Time Zone...", "Travelling fans...". This spits on this.

It'll be very interesting to see how the Wrestling Tourism market is impacted by it, and the other promotions and conventions that run too. 

EDIT:
Just seen The man of Three H's has said they'll be making a "game changing announcement" today. With Saudi already common knowledge, do you think there's a possiblity of a multi-centre Mania?

Edited September 12, 2025 by DazzM

[DavidB6937]

41 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Even if it does well, it simply doesn’t have the legacy of ‘Mania, so their fans will feel it. Take your audience for granted, you’ll get bitten in the arse. Between that and the ticket prices, they’re going to create barriers for a lot of people when it comes to watching them live and that’ll surely affect them. 

Oh I absolutely agree with all of that. It'll be interesting to see the actual impact and how long it takes, as sometimes it surprises me how much they actually get away with.

[RedTwoster]

23 minutes ago, DazzM said:

Just seen The man of Three H's has said they'll be making a "game changing announcement" today. With Saudi already common knowledge, do you think there's a possiblity of a multi-centre Mania?

I suppose Wrestlemania going ‘global’ is game-changing. And for the first time ever, there’s pretty much no chance that even their most dedicated of fans can attend it. Revolutionary!

[Supremo]

“Wrestlemania has became bigger than ever, so we’re excited to announce that in 2027 it will go truly global and be simulcast from multiple sites. Saudi Arabia will see Stone Cold vs. CM Punk, The Rock vs. Roman Reigns and Bret Hart vs. Goldberg, and for the American fans we’ll also be coming to you from the Manhattan Center, where you’ll get to see me and Road Dogg say, “suck it,” and Undertaker chokeslam the NXT roster.”

[Handsome Tex Hardcastle]

It just seems like short sighted business to take what someone has been doing successfully for decades and do the exact opposite. Its always been a cyclical business and they clearly feel that they're riding the crest of a wave at the moment, but what happens if wrestling returns to being a mostly irrelevant, niche subculture with more tarped off seats than paying customers? There'll still be that hardcore of wrestling fans that have kept the company ticking over in leaner times, but many have become so alienated and disillusioned that I suspect that group will be greatly diminished.

It's as if they're hell bent on sucking out any of the magic that was left and turning it into revenue. They bear more relation to faceless Private Equity than custodians of a valued institution. They arent Private Equity of course, but theyve become so financialised that its creeping into the product to the extent that its becoming repellent. When HHH tells us that "we ain't seen nothing yet" and they're "changing the game" he wasn't kidding. Are we supposed to be high fiving each other over all this yield and synergy? There's no upside to any of this as far as fans are concerned and at this stage it feels like a dog and pony show for investors. I dont even care if the product is good or not anymore and I genuinely hope it falls flat on its arse and fails. Anything that might emerge from the ashes can't be any worse than this, can it? 

Edited September 12, 2025 by Handsome Tex Hardcastle
Dodgy grammar

[LaGoosh]

14 minutes ago, Handsome Tex Hardcastle said:

It as if they're hell bent on sucking out any of the magic that was left and turning it into revenue.

Bingo! That's capitalism, baby.

Vince is an evil monster who deserves to burn in Hell, but from all accounts he genuinely appeared to believe above mostly everything else that it was important for WWE to provide people with something that made them happy and took them away from their problems and day to day lives. TKO are just going to bleed this thing dry for as long as they can and that's all they will ever care about.

[Kamran]

It's been confirmed:

 

[LCJ]

8 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Bingo! That's capitalism, baby.

Vince is an evil monster who deserves to burn in Hell, but from all accounts he genuinely appeared to believe above mostly everything else that it was important for WWE to provide people with something that made them happy and took them away from their problems and day to day lives. TKO are just going to bleed this thing dry for as long as they can and that's all they will ever care about.

What used to be family entertainment is now for rich single men only it seems.