Rants

Attitude Era Attendance

By Scott Keith on April 21, 2013

Hey Scott,

Really enjoy the blog.

I always find myself watching things from the Attitude Era, which I love, but has been overrated based on nostalgia. I was wondering–for all that gets made of the popularity of wrestling at the time, why didn't the WWF/WWE take advantage by booking a huge stadium show ala current Wrestlemanias? Was the company still trying to get its confidence back after a rough patch? Or does this shed some light on the era as being more about television ratings?

Thought a wrestling guru like yourself might have an answer.

Thanks

Well they did do huge stadium shows for Wrestlemania 17-19 If you're talking for the 99 and 2000 versions, I think they thought they couldn't pull off those kind of ticket sales because, as you say, they were still a bit gunshy from the downturn. And given that it's better to sell out than have tons of empty seats, it's fine that they didn't run a stadium show. Plus at that point Wrestlemania wasn't the huge established juggernaut that it is now, and they hadn't run a stadium for WM since 1992. Look what happened in 97 with the Alamodome and how embarrassing that was, sales-wise. LIke in 2000 can you imagine trying to sell 60,000 tickets for that shitty four-way main event?

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