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What’s the story?
As rumoured back in December then followed up last month, it looks like WWE are planning on holding a 100,000-seat event in Australia later in 2018.
Well, Australian newspaper The Herald Sun has released more details on the monumental event - with a prospective date, rumoured names and a confirmation of when the announcement will be made all being reported.
In case you didn’t know…
Well, we all know that WWE loves breaking records and the attendance record for any event promoted by the company was broken at Wrestlemania 32 in Dallas, Texas when 101,763 fans were in attendance.
The two closest rivals to this were Wrestlemania 3, which took place in Pontiac, Michigan drawing 93,173 fans, and Wrestlemania 29 in East Rutherford, New Jersey which drew 80,676 fans. The largest WWE attendance outside of the USA was at SummerSlam '92 in London, England at 80,355.
Funnily enough, a 100,000 seater event in Australia wouldn't just be monumental for WWE, but it would be almost double the current record holder for an event in Australia - when UFC 193 amasses an audience of 56,214 in Australia, featuring new WWE signing Ronda Rousey against Holly Holm.
The heart of the matter
It had previously been reported that the 10th largest stadium in the world, Australia's MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) was looking to host more big events with WWE interested in going down under for a pay-per-view.
Major Australian newspaper The Herald Sun have now reported that the WWE has partnered up with Visit Victoria to put on a show in October, one week after the AFL Grand Final - which takes place on September 29 with the official announcement expected to be made at WrestleMania 34 on April 8th.
It should be added that WWE's usual tour of Australia is usually in late August, early September and thus this date wouldn't be far off business as usual - aside from one show being in the tenth largest stadium in the world.
The report also states it would be a pay-per-view event with many of WWE's big names such as John Cena, The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, who has not yet officially signed for WWE.
The newspaper also comments that the event would generate more than $100 million for the state's economy and create 900 jobs.
What’s next?
I guess we'll find out more in the coming months. For now, all eyes are on WrestleMania 34 and it'll be very interesting to see if the announcement is made - or if any more information comes from the Australian press on the matter.
Author’s take
Well, when I first found out about this, I thought it was incredibly ambitious of WWE, and I'm still not 100% they can pull it off. 100,000 is a massive number, particularly for a WWE event that isn't WrestleMania. When you consider that WWE reportedly had problems filling seats at Elimination Chamber, this could prove a bit much.
One red flag for me is the three names suggested to appear. There's no doubt that Cena would be there, but Undertaker and Rey Mysterio? One may be retired and one isn't yet signed - but I think the actual date seems pretty accurate and the rest of the statements seem to add up.
It will also be very interesting if WWE approach this like Beast In The East and make it a Network special, running at local Australian time. You'd have to wonder if there'd be spots on the card for WWE's Australian Superstars who are currently performing in NXT and on 205 Live too - Buddy Murphy, The Iconic Duo of Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, and TM-61's Shane Thorne & Nick Miller.
None of which are on the main card yet, but you'd have to think they'd be an extra draw for the event - and WWE may need every bit of help they can get for this monumental task.
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