WWE’s Cheap Tactic for Moving Elimination Chamber Tickets Draws the Ire of the Fans

In a bid to augment ticket sales for the Elimination Chamber, WWE has resorted to blocking watch parties in the area of the venue of the PLE.

WWE’s Cheap Tactic for Moving Elimination Chamber Tickets Draws the Ire of the Fans

Elimination Chamber strategy by WWE slammed by fans [via- WWE]

WWE has its Elimination Chamber PLE lined up for February 28 at the United Center in Chicago. As of a couple days back, the data from WrestleTix showed that the event was far from a complete sell-out. It was around 14,900 tickets sold out of the current seating availability of 17,000. The company is now stooping to new lows in its bid to facilitate ticket sales.

As per Fightful Select, the Elimination Chamber watch-along parties in the Chicago area are being blocked in adherence to WWE’s new blackout rules. It has triggered a mass outrage among the wrestling fans, who couldn’t be more miffed at this point.

The watch parties at bars and theaters that WWE is forbidding hold a massive significance in terms of fans sharing their love for pro wrestling and making lifelong memories off of it.

Putting a ban on holding such a gathering will only alienate the diehard fans from WWE, but the company is also risking not making any new fans, a problem that might haunt the Stamford-based promotion in the long run.

A number of wrestling content creators are also venting out their frustrations online, with many of them calling WWE crazy if people in key positions over there really believe blocking out watch parties will translate into paying customers.

Because who’s going to spend $260 for nosebleeds? Insane, isn’t it? But that’s exactly what the cheapest available batch of tickets is priced at for the Elimination Chamber. Also, the camera-facing front row seats are listed at $5,178. The floor seating has a good chunk of tickets unsold, which will probably be gone on the day of the show should they come down in prices.

It’s a no-brainer at this point that WWE will have to slash the prices across the seating chart for them to get closer to that 17,000 mark by Saturday. Speaking a bit on the match card, local favorite CM Punk will defend his World Heavyweight title against a rejuvenated Finn Balor.

In another must-see showdown, Becky Lynch will put her Women’s Intercontinental Championship on the line against AJ Lee, who is set to have her first singles match in over a decade.

The women’s Elimination Chamber field is almost set with Rhea Ripley, Tiffany Stratton, Alexa Bliss, Kiana James, Asuka, and one more woman to qualify. On the men’s side of things, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans, and the last spot yet to be taken.

The sorry state of WrestleMania 42 ticket sales engineered by WWE

The constant price-gouging has completely stagnated the ticket advances for WWE shows, with its biggest event of the year in WrestleMania now bearing the brunt of it. The tickets sold for WrestleMania 42 across both nights are nearly 20% down compared to this time last year, as per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

WrestleMania 42
WWE WrestleMania 42 [via- KNOE]

Andrew Baydala, who works in the ticketing and marketing workspace, has noted in his crux of the situation that the lagging ticket sales for WrestleMania are a combination of repeat business in Las Vegas, the current economy in the US, and the egregious price scaling.

Former WWE commentator Jonathan Coachman quoted a reply to a fan on X, who was basically implying that the WrestleMania card isn’t set, hence the existing ticket sales.

‘The Coach’ argued that people don’t wait for, like, a week or two before the event to decide if they’re going to spend a thousand dollars on their annual WrestleMania vacation. Coachman also noted how the airlines and hotel packaging might cost an arm and a leg the closer they’re booked to the actual show.

He added that WrestleMania isn’t a hot ticket and mentioned that the prices will only be cut down just to get rid of the tickets. The PFL executive also said that a properly priced WrestleMania should not have taken more than two days to sell out completely.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful relayed through a post that a number of venues, businesses, and hotels in Las Vegas have expressed big-time frustration about the watch parties being “blacked out” by WWE. They were under the notion that even after paying hefty site fees to WWE for hosting WrestleMania, the company was discouraging and restricting tourism instead of promoting it.

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