Matt Hardy shared his perspective on the recent reports of WWE’s declining live event attendance, noting several factors that could be contributing to the decline. During The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy pointed to high ticket prices and the absence of John Cena as potential reasons.
“Cena is obviously a major marketing move, which is helping sell tickets everywhere. He is, no doubt about it,” Hardy said. “They have increased the prices of their tickets, which probably has something to do with it to a degree. And I guess there’s not anything that is currently happening that is, like, white hot, like red hot, like, if you touch it, you’re burnt. You know what I mean? Like, they have a lot of great stuff going on. They have a lot of characters that are cool. They have some cool stories, some cool sagas going on. They have a few injuries that are kind of hurting them a little bit right now as well, that have just happened. But maybe a combination of those things”.
Hardy expanded on the pricing issue, stating, “If you are going to charge those top-level prices, you have to make sure your product is top-level at all times and is white hot”.
The conversation also turned to former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Hardy’s co-host Jon Alba brought up a viral clip from Maven, who said McMahon knew affordability was a “huge crux of the goodwill of the business”. Hardy agreed with that assessment of McMahon’s philosophy.
“Vince, I feel like Vince was out there to try and bring families in. That was his whole thing, especially once he changed it, after the Attitude Era… he was adamant. Man, he really wanted to appeal to children, because he knows, if there are children, they get hooked on the product, they’re going to come and their parents obviously got to come with them,” Hardy reflected. “So the whole family has to cash in and buy tickets. So, he was adamant about doing that and attracting families, but he also tried to make it as affordable as possible. I think too, he was cognizant of that fact”.
Recent data from Wrestlenomics confirms that average ticket prices for WWE’s main roster television events have nearly doubled since the TKO merger in September 2023. Attendance figures from WrestleTix illustrate the recent trend; the October 31 SmackDown in Salt Lake City had an estimated 4,226 tickets distributed, a number noted in the podcast. In contrast, the Saturday Night’s Main Event Premium Live Event, held in the same arena two days later, had a more robust 7,867 tickets distributed.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. New episodes are brought to you by AdFreeShows, the Podcast Heat, and Wrestling According to Alba networks.
