JBL has endorsed the concept of WrestleMania running events on two different continents on the same weekend, arguing that the format could dramatically increase revenue while opening up previously untapped markets.
Speaking on Something To Wrestle, JBL was asked about the growing speculation surrounding WrestleMania 44 following Nick Khan’s tease at a company town hall that the location would be something special.
“Yeah, I agree with you. And I thought all along, when they announced Saudi Arabia, that they could possibly have two types of WrestleMania events. Maybe back-to-back nights. I think that works. But I think you may call it something different. You have a big show in the United States, a big show in Saudi or whatever it is. The American audience and people who travel to America, which includes the Europeans that might not travel to Saudi Arabia, it’s a long way, they’re used to coming to the United States, would want to come here for that? I think it makes a lot of sense,” JBL said.
He also laid out the financial logic behind running events in two separate markets rather than splitting the same audience between two nights in the same city.
“And if you’re running at two different nights, and you’re not using any talent between the two, you don’t have to fly them back and forth. I mean, obviously you’re going to have guys like Triple H and Bruce and Nick Khan, and these guys are probably gonna be on a charter flight and fly all night to get to the other the other event, the second night to run it. But I think it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of you know, it’s not going to be dependent on being that, say, in the UK, if these, if talent is not interchangeable. So you can run something. I mean, you know, you can run Mumbai, you can run Sydney, you can run Tokyo. You can run so many different places. You can run somewhere down in Rio, somewhere down in South America. You can make it a really cool event. Make the fan fest, you know, wherever the WrestleMania is, you have two different Fan Fest, two different everything. I mean, and now it’s not a matter of, you’re splitting the revenue because you’re in two different places. You’re potentially doubling the revenue because you’re in two different places.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Something To Wrestle with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
