What’s the Story?
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that the 2017 edition of the Royal Rumble has sold nearly 40,000 tickets for the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Meltzer tweeted that the WWE weren’t having a hard time selling tickets due to the large sales they achieved for this event in response to someone claiming they were struggling to do so.
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The last time the WWE was in the Alamodome they reached an attendance of 60,477 people for the event.
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The last time the WWE was in the Alamodome was for the Royal Rumble of 1997 where Stone Cold Steve Austin won his first Royal Rumble and Shawn Michaels won the WWE Championship for the second time against Sycho Sid.
According to former WWE employee, Jim Cornette, the actual number of paid customers for the Royal Rumble in 1997 was around 47,514 while the other 12,511 people had their tickets comped. The gate was reported at $480,000, but the WWE had to pay $125,000 to rent the building.
The Royal Rumble this Sunday will mark 20 years since the WWE’s return to the Alamodome. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be at the event on the kickoff panel.
The heart of the matter
The difference between the projected ticket sales of about 40,000 and the 47,514 customers who paid in 1997 could indicate the level of interest the fans had in the two events.
The Royal Rumble in 1997 was built around Shawn Michaels regaining the WWE Championship in his hometown while the Royal Rumble in 2017 has been built on the appearances of Goldberg, The Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship match between John Cena and the champion AJ Styles.
What’s next?
Tickets are still on sale for the Royal Rumble and will likely be on sale until the day of the event so the WWE may end up surpassing their record of 47,500 paid customers or they could fall short of it.
Sportskeeda’s Take
The attendance at the Royal Rumble this year ultimately won’t matter because they are likely to repeat their decisions from 1997; get as many people to pay as possible then comp the tickets so that the arena can be filled.
Also, the WWE has been known to tell fans false attendance records regarding live event their big shows. This is an especially common practice at WrestleMania where the WWE announces a number, only for fans and journalists to come out and say the arena wasn’t filled.
However, while Meltzer was right to say the WWE weren’t having trouble selling tickets, the fact remains that the WWE is still down from their last Rumble appearance two decades ago.
Only the reports after the event take place and WWE claims their attendance can any truth be revealed in this scenario.
