June 24, 2024 Observer Newsletter: WWE Clash at the Castle review, NJPW G1 tournament developments
Image: WWE
WWE’s Clash at the Castle was the latest in the new version of five-match B PPV shows with roughly three hour shows so all the matches could get time.
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Because they charged the highest ticket prices for an arena event in company history, the sellout crowd of 11,117 (via Wrestletix, WWE said 11,391 but of late WWE’s announced numbers have been way exaggerated even with Vince McMahon gone as noted by the real numbers coming out for Mania) at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow Scotland, produced the largest gate for an arena setting show in pro wrestling history. We don’t know the number, but given the ticket prices, it could have hit $4 million. It broke the record of more than $3.2 million just set on 5/4 with the Backlash show in Lyon, France. It was both the highest priced get-in ticket in pro wrestling history, as originally the cheapest ticket was priced at $419, but was lowered to $316 at the end to sell the remaining tickets as it was not sold out until the day of the show. It’s possible it was dropped a little lower, but even the secondary market price was more than $300 to get in.
In many ways this reminded me of years back when UFC came to the U.K. regularly and would charge high ticket prices and we’d hear how overpriced the tickets were, yet the event would sell out immediately. Even before dropping the prices a bit, most of the tickets were sold well in advance. There were a ton of complaints when the prices were originally released, but they had enough people who would pay those prices that they still sold out.
Some of the other stories this week include:
- A look at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
- The latest twist in the Cung Le vs. UFC lawsuit
- The NJPW G1 tournament taking shape
Subscribers can click here to read this week’s issue.