WWE have confirmed WrestleMania 36 will be going ahead on the weekend of April 4 and 5, but not as originally planned. The event was expected to draw over 65,000 fans to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but has since been moved to the Performace Center. No live audience will be in attendance and WrestleMania will be a 'closed set' with only essential personal allowed in the building.It's far from ideal, but you've got to respect WWE's mentality of 'the show must go on'.But it will likely come at a huge cost. By moving WrestleMania to an empty arena, WWE stands to lose over $22 million from ticket and merchandise sales alone. That figure has been worked out by WrestleNomics, who has been breaking down the numbers. "WrestleMania in the stadium would’ve drawn gate of $15m. Probably $4m [more] total for the 4 arena shows. $3m in venue merch," they tweeted.
That's a lot of lost money. Would WWE have been better postponing their biggest event of the year until it was viable for fans to attend again?
We'll have to wait and see. The only thing we know for sure at the moment is that this is going to be a very unique WrestleMania.
On Wednesday night, WWE confirmed it will be a two-night event for the first time ever. Their statement reads:
"WrestleMania, for the first time ever, will be held as a two-night event streaming on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and available on pay-per-view.
"The two-night pop culture extravaganza will be hosted by three-time Super Bowl Champion Rob Gronkowski.
"As previously announced, only essential personnel will be on the closed set during the production of WrestleMania."
Very intriguing. While the Show of Shows will be behind closed doors, the WWE Universe will no doubt be excited to see exactly what's in store.
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