WWE Hall OF Famer Jim Ross has shared his view that WWE’s biggest show of the year WrestleMania will never return to an arena.
Ross was discussing WrestleMania XX on his Grilling JR podcast. That event was held at the hallowed Madison Square Garden in New York City.
JR discussed the event selling out in a matter of moments, and how WWE couldn’t mean the demand for tickets in an arena of that side.
Ross explained:
“As a marketer or a promoter, the supply’s gotta to meet the demand and we weren’t able to do that obviously [for WrestleMania XX]. I don’t know how long this event took to sell out but it was minutes. And like you mentioned, minutes for people in 48 states, minutes for people that attended from 16 countries. It was a hard ticket to get – heartbreaking for some fans that really wanted to go see it. I think that it was a real special event.”
According to WWE, 20,000 fans packed into the Garden for WrestleMania XX. Those present saw Chris Benoit win the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
Jim Ross sees the future of WrestleMania in stadiums rather than arenas. Ross brought up working at WrestleMania 21 and 22 which were held in the Staples Center and then the Allstate Arena respectively.
Since those events WrestleMania had been held in stadiums until 2020 which has allowed the event to increase its capacity to over 70,000 fans regularly. In 2020, WrestleMania 36 was held on a closed set in the Performance Center due to the COVD-19 pandemic.
Ross continued:
“I sense we’re going to move stadiums full-time in the future. I worked those two WrestleManias, 21 and 22. It was just inevitable. I don’t ever see it going back to, away from stadiums, to arenas. And next year’s in Dallas right at the AT&T Stadium? And I know LA’s on tap in the new stadium and all that stuff. I think that’s the permanent home for WrestleMania, it will be in stadiums. Domed stadiums would be my preference because you don’t have to worry about rain.”
WrestleMania 38 in 2022 is due to be held at the AT&T Stadium in Texas with 2023’s edition due to be held at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
WrestleMania 37 will emanate from the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The newest reports suggest that WWE is looking to allow up to 45,000 fans in the crowd each night of the event.
If you use any quotes from this article please h/t and link back to Inside The Ropes.