Tom wasn't my favorite announcer, but he is better than some outsider they bring in that is going to quit after 2 months.

They all seem the same. Bland middle aged white dudes.

I wouldn't be surprised if his departure was another Nick Khan decision since he's been doing a lot of reshaping behind the scenes to make the company move more towards his vision for the future.

the problem is raw will have 2 color guys and what ever saxen does no lead guy on raw.

According to Fightful, WWE's current grand plan for Eva Marie's return is for her to just be a manager for some other female wrestler on the RAW brand.

Wonder who drew the short straw :D

Random guess? Shayna. Or if they really want people to turn their shit off, she's Alexa's doll.

Whoever it is is lucky

Shayna doesn5't need a manager. She's a natural bully, and a great heel.

Brock was a natural bully and an amazing heel but he became great because of his manager. Granted, his manager was Paul Heyman.

Except Shayna can cut natural sounding promos herself, whereas Brock isn't great at promos.

Best female heel in the company

Yeah, whoever gets her as a manager is lucky, like I said. Not a bad thing at all.

Cardi B expected to be the host of SummerSlam this year

Didn't Cardi B "feud" with a rassler on Twitter some months ago?

I think WWE will be embarrassed by SummerSlam attendance at Allegiant stadium. I don't see anywhere close to a sell out. It's two months away and on the west coast. If they get Cena vs Roman and Brock vs Bobby they will do well but I can't foresee a sellout. I think booking a stadium was stupid.

You might be underestimating people's desire to see a live show. I know WWE will have been on the road for a month by then, but after a year+ with no events, I think fans will flock to big shows for a bit no matter what they are.

I dunno about a stadium show but I think regular TV tapings are gonna be a sellout pretty much everywhere for a while.

I don't think WWE or AEW are selling out arenas anytime soon, let alone a stadium.

TX is probably the best market to get close to a sell-out but I just can't see people rushing back to live-attendance outside of the hardcore fans. I also don't think SummerSlam will sell anywhere near 60k tickets, guessing about half that.

Have you guys seen Vegas since they fully reopened and removed all restrictions recently? That place is shoulder to shoulder r/n. Probably the most packed it's been in years and years. They know exactly what they are doing by picking Allegiant stadium. Vegas is going to be slammed with people, that weekend especially because there is another big event in town in Manny Pacquiao vs Errol Spence Jr. It would not shock me at all if they sell out or at least get very very close to it.

I also think you guys are drastically underestimating how badly people want to just get out and go to huge events right now.

Why do people want to get out so bad? Just go to a park, it's a free. People taking their family to a wrestling event have to drop a lot of money for tix for the fam.

If anything the last year has taught us we don't really have to leave to have things we want...movies will come to our TVs, we can have more things delivered...seems easier.

Seph, just two moths ago Florida was jam packed with people and WWE had a Mania set up for 25k each night and couldn't draw more than 10k for the biggest show of the year. I think you underestimate the shittiness of WWE and how little people care for it. I have yet to read any reports that WWE has sold out anything that they have put on sale. Unlike real sports which people actually care about WWE was infinitely worse through the pandemic.

Maybe you will be right and if you are I'll be glad to be wrong. But demand for Wrestling is not the same as real sports. Even AEW has struggled to maintain their previous numbers in ticket sales. Gone are the days of 200k waiting In a virtual ticket line. I also believe that Vegas on short notice is a horrible idea because so much of the country would have to decide to take a last minute Vacation to get there.

Slik. Come on. You know we live in America. A large % of our population is dumber than dirt. The park ain't doing it for them. I agree with you personally, but most people in this country are chomping at the bit to resume "normal" life and they are itching to get out around others after being distanced for over a year. Think about how many rons in this country refuse to wear masks, or get vaccinated or socially distance and then ask yourself again why they want to get out so bad. Spoiler alert: it's because their stupid and stubborn and because our national motto is YEE HAW.

And WM was in an entirely different situation. They didn't pull the trigger on making that a live event until like 15-20 days before show time. People literally did not have time to book trips and make plans to accommodate that. Not to mention that there were still some mandates and social distancing protocols in place (not saying at WM in particular because I don't recall what their stance was at mania, but just in general) deterring people from going out en masse.

If they announce Vegas in the next couple weeks and tickets go on sale, people will have 2 months to plan a trip which is much more doable. Not to mention things are fully reopened now, mandates are gone, more people are vaccinated, etc. All those things make the situation seem more encouraging to people.

Oh, and your WM numbers are wrong. The Tampa Sports Authority reported that out of the 50k cumulative seats available over the 2 nights, just under 41k tickets were sold. So much for not drawing more than 10k per night, huh?

I don't know that The Tampa Bay Sports authority is reporting facts, the attendance is disputed for Mania. You are saying 41k which is close or similar to what WWE reported. Melter reported about 10k per show and Wiki says 24k combined.

RP updates Wiki.

Ah yes, Meltzer and the wiki said it so the people who own the building and actually know how many tickets sold and the company that has to accurately report things like that because they are publicly traded must be lying. Ok. Sure. That TOTALLY makes sense.

I wonder why WWE has ever reported declining ticket sales. Seems so much easier to just lie and say they are selling tons to make the investors happy.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">RAW: 1.64 million</p>&mdash; Bryan Alvarez (@bryanalvarez) <a href="https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/1402397475529314305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

4 times as many viewers as Dynamite

Very true. Wrestling viewership lately has been a sad state of affairs.

So WWE copied the old WCW “rival in the mirror” thing but added a puppet to the mix.

I had a discussion with Fignuts a week or two ago where he said WWE might not want to change on account of the investors not wanting change. Zombie lumberjacks eating wrestlers and demon puppets in mirrors were not very common when WWE went public. Keeping the same vibe but just making it more coherent and better written would have been a shitload LESS of a change. This theory does not hold weight.

Looks like WWE's goal is to sell a little more than half of the available seats at Allegiant Stadium. Also, looks like a smaller entrance area, similar to the Royal Rumble the last few years. (seating chart from ticketmaster)


https://i.postimg.cc/B6mZxHtY/Screen...1-56-35-AM.png

I do have to wonder what they are going for.

Also, logically speaking, wouldn't Shayna be more afraid of pyro exploding around her than of a reflection in the mirror?

Also, how are either of those things more frightful then being relegated to Nia Jax's fucking tag team partner???

They should have had a reflection of the booking sheet if they really wanted to be terrifying :rofl:

By the time WrestleMania happened, I was only a week removed from my first vaccine shot and a lot of people in my age group were in similar boats unless they were able to get it early (healthcare workers, etc). Even if Mania had been at MetLife Stadium and I just had to drive an hour, I wasn't about to go to a big gathering when I wasn't vaxxed and had to be masked the whole time.

If there was a wrestling show nearby on May 15th or later when I'd had my 2nd shot/2 week waiting period, fuck it I'd go. I'll go to the first nearby show I can. Not willing to do any sort of substantial travel at this time but it'd be nice to go to a wrestling event for the first time in ages. I'm comfortable with it now and I trust the science at play.

Rising vax rates I think will just lead to a natural attendance increase, both from venues opening up more tickets and people just wanting to do something they haven't been allowed to. I don't think the attendance boost will last long and I don't think people are chomping at the bit to travel to the other side of the country like many would to get to Vegas....but I think those first couple of months will see some good energetic crowds when wrassling comes to their town for the first time in ages. In AEW's case, they have a shitload of places they've never been so maybe a curiosity bump there.

This is spot on.

I think 1-2 shows is the curve per location. People will go to the first one because they have likely been itching to go to a live show. If the first one is really fun and good, people will be willing to chase that experience with a 2nd show. After that, it will go back to pre pandemic levels of low attendance unless something sparks the product.

A good chunk of the WWE 2k22 roster comprises of legends and released talent. No Ali or wrestlers who jumped to AEW.

rounded up, its 40% of the roster which is future endeavored.

Mia Yim being in the game twice, both as herself and as RECKONING, gave me a nice chuckle

I can’t recall a single RECKONING match on the main roster.