January 22, 2015
The Royal Rumble is considered the first stop on the “Road To Wrestlemania” and this year's event has created much more intrigue than recent memory. For the first time in a number of years, the creative team behind WWE programming have 3 legitimate options in Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, and John Cena to enter Wrestlemania as champion, with Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan ready to dethrone them.
The emergence of Seth Rollins as the company's top heel and the return of Daniel Bryan as fan favorite have spiced things up from what was once a guaranteed Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar Wrestlemania main event. With rumors rampant among the Internet Wrestling Community, both the triple threat WWE World Heavyweight title match and the 30-man Royal Rumble match have multiple scenarios that can play out with a number of combinations of superstars leaving Philadelphia as champion and number 1 contender. Due in part to this intrigue, Royal Rumble tickets on the secondary market are still the most expensive wrestling event that market gurus TicketIQ have ever tracked since their existence in 2010.
At an average ticket price of $594.41, the Royal Rumble has seen a week-of increase of 14%, while most events generally decrease 15% or more in the days before. The cheapest ticket available is $220 – or a nearly 2 year subscription to the “9.99!” WWE Network. Philadelphia has always been one of the WWE's most expensive markets, and one can only imagine what ticket prices will be like if Philly ever does get the Wrestlemania event they've been hoping for.
After the Rumble, WWE will be on the “Fastlane” to Wrestlemania stopping at the FedEx Forum on February 22nd for the inaugural event. WWE FastLane tickets currently average $104.78 on the secondary market, slightly below last year's “Elimination Chamber” Pay Per View at the Target Center.
The time between “Fastlane” and “Wrestlemania XXXI” will be highlighted by two live events. The first is Hulk Hogan's return to Madison Square Garden for the first time in over a decade. Since the announcement of Hulk's appearance, ticket brokers have bought up as many seats as they could hoping to make a profit. Thus far, it's had an opposite effect. As of January 21st, there's over 4,000 seats available for “WWE: Road To Wrestlemania” at Madison Square Garden, nearly 4 times the quantity available for the December 26th event at the World's Most Famous Arena and as a result, ticket prices have dropped considerably. The secondary market is by far the best option for WWE MSG tickets this year, with prices having fallen 17% in the past week alone.
The second live event gaining mainstream media attention leading into Wrestlemania is the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony at the SAP Center on March 28th. With tickets going on sale earlier this month and the “Macho Man” Randy Savage headlining the class, the average asking price on the resale market has ballooned to $165.18 – the priciest ceremony since at least 2010.
Finally, Wrestlemania XXXI is currently the third most expensive Wrestlemania that TicketIQ has tracked. At an average price of $337.54, it is just slightly behind 2011's ($339.56) and 15% below Wrestlemania XXIX at MetLife Stadium ($396.75). Overall, Wrestlemania ticket trends haven't moved much either way yet but are likely to take a turn after the main event has been set.
With the majority of the focus being on the Royal Rumble and following events leading to the “Grandest Stage Of Them All”, a notable house show is taking place this Saturday at the Izod Center. A NJ based group has approved the closing of the Izod Center, which at one point was set to host SummerSlam 2015. Saturday is now officially the final WWE event at the Izod Center, and the Royal Rumble warmup has an average price of $105.61 with tickets still available from $30.
After what many considered to be a lackluster and predictable 2014, WWE programming could be off to an incredible start in 2015. With Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose each having ties to a rumored Wrestlemania main event, the WWE has the WWE Universe's attention -- and wallets.
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