10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2018
6. The Success Of All In
They said it could never be done. Vince McMahon had spent the better part of two decades fashioning a non-competitive environment to ensure it couldn't be done.
Yet Cody and The Young Bucks did it. And they didn't just do it: they smashed it.
When Dave Meltzer was asked on Twitter if an independent promotion could ever sell 10,000 tickets, his dismissive response laid down the gauntlet. Cody was going to prove him wrong, and to do so announced his rebuttal, All In, scheduled for Chicago's 11,000 capacity Sears Center in September.
Obviously the journalist's subtle challenge was all part of the work, but people bought into it as readily as they snapped up tickets the day they became available. Within fewer than 30 minutes, the show was sold out - even though only one match on the card had been named.
In becoming the first non-WWE show to draw over 10,000 punters in over 18 years, All In had shattered the belief in Stamford that their market dominance was impenetrable. Since then, the words 'All' and 'Elite' have joined 'belt' and 'tournament' on the commentators' banned list.