Jim Cornette Absolutely DESTROYS Insane WWE Ticket Prices (WWE News)
"This is f**king highway robbery."
Speaking on the latest edition of The Jim Cornette Experience, Jim Cornette and co-host Brian Last discussed the topic of WWE's current pricing policy.
After hearing from a friend who attended the Louisville, Kentucky SmackDown taping at the end of last month, Cornette was amazed that second row ringside seats cost $700 - though Corny wasn't totally sure whether the $700 price tag was per ticket or if it covered two seats.
Comparing today's prices to the prices of yesteryear, the legendary manager of, amongst others, the Midnight Express said:
“For $250, you could sit on the front row of every one of 52 yearly events at the Louisville Gardens when I was a kid, and you could get blood on you, you were so close, and see the greatest, wildest-ass wrestling you’ve ever seen, all year. Now, it’s three times what it used to be in a year just to go to the show and sit on the second row and watch people talk to each other.”
Cornette's friend also found the second-row seats to be too close to see the overhead monitors, with the experience compared to "being in the front row of a drive-in theater", and it was also hard to see the entrance ramp due to fans standing up during entrances.
Brian Last then questioned how likely a fan is to buy a ticket the next time WWE comes to their town, suggesting it might be a more enjoyable experience to watch the show from the comfort of their own home:
"You could just take that money and get the best TV you can find, and it would be a better experience for you; you can get your own food and go to the bathroom and stuff. The big question is, if someone pays that amount of money for a seat in the second row, how likely are they to come back, even if it was a great night, just because of the price? If WWE returns to that town one year later, does that person say, 'I have to go again,' or does that person say, 'You know, I spent a thousand bucks last time, between parking and food and beer and seats, I can't do that again.'"
To that, Cornette said that his friend attended that SmackDown taping as a "bucket list thing" that the man wanted to do with his son due to "his fond memories of days gone by."
When Last highlighted how those prices are likely to further increase by the next time WWE visits the area, Cornette replied:
"I don't f**king see how it can [go up in price]. Then they're going to start doing shows for the 500 richest fans they’ve got, in a 20,000-seat building. My God, you’d have to turn to crime if it gets any more expensive. Some people may have already contemplated [that]. I think potentially the company selling the tickets has turned to crime, because this is f**king highway robbery.”
Brian Last then compared modern-day Raw and SmackDown tapings to the old four or five-hour blocks of TV the then-WWF would tape for the likes of WWF Superstars and Wrestling Challenge. To that, Cornette added:
"Even at those prices, live, they still consider it a television event, and it's all geared towards television. I mentioned it the other week, but having even somebody the level of CM Punk, and again, I'm not glazing, as the kids say, glazing Punk, but the level of him presented in the company, or Drew [McIntyre], or a Cody [Rhodes], or someone of that level, making their entrance, 'We'll be right back folks!', and then they go to a break, then they come back and they've got a backstage thing, and they've got a travel log, and then they've got a drone shot, and then they come to the ring, and one of the biggest stars in the company has been standing there, with his d**k in his hand, whistling Dixie for five minutes, and then they get to start."
As for how he would've dealt with WWE's particular way of formatting certain TV segments these days, James E. didn't mince his words:
"I would've either gotten so goddamn mad I'd have walked to the back and said, 'F**k ya'll, I'm gone,' or I would have started a riot on the microphone; one or the other. Because that's got to be excruciating for a performer, to go out there and just have to stand there, 'Are they done yet?'"
Cornette then pointed out that WWE fans are now doing the company "a service" by attending shows, or, as he bluntly put it, "Thank you for coming and paying to do us a favour, making our show look f**king great."
As an indicator of just how much WWE's ticket prices have increased in recent years, Wrestlenomics' Brandon Thurston recently pointed out how the average price for a WrestleMania 39 ticket was $169, for WrestleMania 40 was $341, and for WrestleMania 41 it was a staggering $635 - all driven by TKO President and COO Mark Shaprio stating how WWE's previous pricing model wasn't "maxing the opportunity" enough.
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