After selling out the “All In” event in under an hour, PWP Nation contributor Brian St’Denis tries to piece together what it all means.
All In did it.
Cody, The Young Bucks and everyone else involved in the All In show in September did what some (like myself) didn’t think was possible; they sold out the show. No company outside of the WWE, in America, had sold 10,000 or more tickets to a wrestling show since WCW did it. A drought of some 17-18 years.
So the fact that this Indie show did it is saying a lot. But what does it mean?
It means that the power of social media is incredible. This show soldout with no matches announced. Just pictures with talent’s faces on it with the words “All In” on them. We knew who was “all in” but we had no idea what they were going to do. NJPW had two soldout shows in the USA without announcing matches, so that wasn’t totally uncommon. However, this is just a show, there’s no company involved. Just a big group of talent trying to make the biggest show they can without the WWE name attached.
The wrestling podcast business is BIG business. Once they turned this Saturday into a full weekend of events, it wasn’t just about wrestling matches at that point. Bruce Prichard, Tony Schiavone, Conrad Thompson, Eric Bischoff, Colt Cabana, Sean Mooney, etc. are all coming to Chicago for All In weekend.
These wrestling podcasts are some of the biggest podcasts ON THE PLANET, and I’m not just talking about in the wrestling genre. Prichard sells out events all over this country following the WWE around. The list of former & current wrestling superstars who will be there that weekend is staggering. This event, like the big banks during the recession, is too big to fail.
On September 2, what will all this mean?
Majority of the pro wrestling fans left (often called “the hardcores”) from the last big boom (the Attitude Era) will tell you that the business has suffered since WCW & ECW went away. Pro wrestling fans have longed for WWE to “get some competition.” This All In show does not bring us closer to WWE getting some real competition. It’s a one off super show that really only proves that “it can be done.” Which in a sense was the whole point of the show, to prove to Dave Meltzer (who is also going to be there) that it could be done.
The hardcore fan will travel to be a part of a big event. Although we already knew that for the most part (WrestleMania every year, NJPW, etc.), this show proves that hardcore fans will travel and the name on the marquee doesn’t mean a thing. There is NO name on this marquee! Between the talent on the show and the talent leading up to the show (Starrcast), hardcore fans want to be there. This type of event isn’t for the casual wrestling fan. This is a hardcore fan’s dream weekend.
I understand that this show is a major accomplishment. I’m not trying to take anything away from that. But when the wrestling business wakes up on September 2, it isn’t any closer to another boom period and it isn’t any closer to WWE starting to sweat.
For more news, rumors, videos, podcasts and exclusive articles, follow us on Twitter @PWPNation.
