There was a time when WWE having to change a PPV venue because of a lack of ticket sales would have been unthinkable. That, though seems to have been the case this week as the company has moved its Money in the Bank pay per view from one Las Vegas facility to another just a few weeks before the event is set to take place.
Money in the Bank will broadcast from Nevada on July 2 as originally planned. The difference is that the show will now be coming from the MGM Grand Garden Arena as opposed to the brand new Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
The company hasn’t announced the reason for the change in venue – and let’s be honest, it is unlikely they ever will – but given the state of their drawing power in 2022, it isn’t hard to guess why the shift has occurred.
The MGM Grand Graden Arena is a fine venue and it is one that has plenty of history in the combat sports field. It also seats right around 17,000 fans, a number that WWE should be able to do for any PPV in a major city. Allegiant Stadium, on the other hand, is almost four times that size. It seats 65,000 for NFL games and with the stage set up and the ability for floor seats, it would likely do even more than that for a WWE event.
According to a Wrestling Observer Newsletter report on May 6 by Dave Melter, WWE had sold just over 16,800 tickets for their show. Meltzer’s number of tickets sold – who is known to have the sources to be bang on with this type of information – would look great at the MGM Grand, but terrible in a massive stadium that would be only a quarter full. Ticket sales do often spike closer to an event, but with so many seats still open as the date draws near, the company seems to have swerved to a different location.
WWE just isn’t reading like it used to. The company seems to think that Money in the Bank is seen with the same reverence by wrestling fans as the Big Four PPVs. You could sell out Allegiant Stadium for a WrestleMania or a SummerSlam, but fans just aren’t as hyped for Money in the Bank, even though it is usually a pretty good show.
To put this in perspective, this is the first time that WWE has had to downsize a PPV event since WrestleMania VII. That show – which had the brutal main event of Hulk Hogan defeating “Iraqi sympathizer” Sargent Slaughter – happened all the way back in 1991. Sasha Banks wasn’t even born yet and that was the WrestleMania that saw The Undertaker’s first match at The Showcase of the Immortals.
Basically, it has been a very, very long time in wrestling terms.
AEW owner Tony Khan – a man certainly not afraid to throw shade in WWE’s direction – quickly did so on Twitter. Money in the Bank has never been held in a stadium before and Khan quickly pointed out that Vince Mcmahon’s decision to take on Vegas on International Fight Week was likely not a great idea. Vegas is the spiritual home of UFC and there is even an event there that night as UFC 276 will be taking place at the T-Mobile Arena.
It will be interesting to see if Vince learns from this. The WWE can’t be seen to be overreaching, but it also can’t be seen to be losing ground to the AEW/NJPW combination. Maybe this will spark more creativity with WWE. More likely, however, is that very little will change and fans will continue to switch away from the stale product.
Always remember folks. Pro Wrestling is Real.
