Back late last year, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks said, "We're going to put on a show in a 10,000 seat arena and we're going to sell out."
Everyone's immediate response was, "there is no way this is going to happen, only the WWE sells out arenas like this in North America." To be honest, it was the truth. The only company that is able to sell out full size arenas like that is WWE, Ring of Honor can't do it, Impact Wrestling can't do it, AAA/Lucha Underground in Mexico can't do it, no other promotion in North America can do it. The last time a non-WWE promotion was able to sell out a 10,000 seat arena it was WCW during the Monday Night Wars.
Then it happened, in 29 minutes and 36 seconds, they sold out the Sears Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Sold out in less then a half hour, the first time in 20 years a non-WWE promotion has done so, and that makes me incredibly pleased.
What I saw when this announcement initially happen was Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks putting their asses on the line to take a huge financial loss if this didn't succeed and a massive hit to their respect levels. I understood that being members of The Bullet Club would attract a lot of fans yes but I was worried it wasn't going to be enough. With wrestling in a relatively so,so state at this moment in North America for what boils down to "just the boys" putting on a huge event sounded like something that realistically was a long shot.
They did it, they used all of the momentum they had as performers, constantly updated the card, added new events throughout the Labor Day weekend almost to the point where it's now a full weekend event. Almost like an Indie Pro Wrestling Wrestlemania of sorts. That's one thing that indie promotions from all over would kill to have and to do, seeing how successful this is, I guarantee that you will see either promotions or groups of indie promotions getting together to do a similar type of Indie Wrestlemania.
And why not ??
Wrestlemania is in April, people are worn out from pointless WWE programming by September anyways, the indies are great why not put on events with great talent like Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, and other Bullet Club members both present and past. Finn Balor could sure use a refresh on his career and leaving WWE would be a fantastic thing for him to do, do that and appear at an event like this in the future. Also having tremendous talents that WWE is missing out on like Jay Lethal or Will Osprey will just boost things to the next level, see what Neville can really do outside the confines of WWE. Having events like different guest speakers or presenters, different unique booths, all the fun extras, is a huge draw for events like this. It always gives fans something to do, it makes it an experience, not just a memorable wrestling show.
A huge draw also during the festivities of "ALL IN" during the weekend is this event:
Everyone's immediate response was, "there is no way this is going to happen, only the WWE sells out arenas like this in North America." To be honest, it was the truth. The only company that is able to sell out full size arenas like that is WWE, Ring of Honor can't do it, Impact Wrestling can't do it, AAA/Lucha Underground in Mexico can't do it, no other promotion in North America can do it. The last time a non-WWE promotion was able to sell out a 10,000 seat arena it was WCW during the Monday Night Wars.
Then it happened, in 29 minutes and 36 seconds, they sold out the Sears Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Sold out in less then a half hour, the first time in 20 years a non-WWE promotion has done so, and that makes me incredibly pleased.
What I saw when this announcement initially happen was Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks putting their asses on the line to take a huge financial loss if this didn't succeed and a massive hit to their respect levels. I understood that being members of The Bullet Club would attract a lot of fans yes but I was worried it wasn't going to be enough. With wrestling in a relatively so,so state at this moment in North America for what boils down to "just the boys" putting on a huge event sounded like something that realistically was a long shot.
They did it, they used all of the momentum they had as performers, constantly updated the card, added new events throughout the Labor Day weekend almost to the point where it's now a full weekend event. Almost like an Indie Pro Wrestling Wrestlemania of sorts. That's one thing that indie promotions from all over would kill to have and to do, seeing how successful this is, I guarantee that you will see either promotions or groups of indie promotions getting together to do a similar type of Indie Wrestlemania.
And why not ??
Wrestlemania is in April, people are worn out from pointless WWE programming by September anyways, the indies are great why not put on events with great talent like Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, and other Bullet Club members both present and past. Finn Balor could sure use a refresh on his career and leaving WWE would be a fantastic thing for him to do, do that and appear at an event like this in the future. Also having tremendous talents that WWE is missing out on like Jay Lethal or Will Osprey will just boost things to the next level, see what Neville can really do outside the confines of WWE. Having events like different guest speakers or presenters, different unique booths, all the fun extras, is a huge draw for events like this. It always gives fans something to do, it makes it an experience, not just a memorable wrestling show.
A huge draw also during the festivities of "ALL IN" during the weekend is this event:
The hometown legend is doing a meet and greet, after constantly teasing things with the Young Bucks, people like me were really hoping that this meant CM Punk's return to wrestling was going to be this event in Chicago. While it is just a meet and greet because he has a fight at UFC 225 shortly after this event, the man is still a legend in Chicago and in wrestling, so his mere presence makes things more important. I have a funny feeling that he ends up wrestling that night at some point, I just do............it seems too convenient for him to be there just for that.
All I have to say is that I'm really glad that ALL IN sold out and it did so in such a quick fashion, proving the haters wrong so quickly, proving those who had faith right so dramatically, and even proving to Dave Meltzer who told Cody that it couldn't be done that it damn well could and did. Jim Cornette mentioned how Cody is like his father, they both always dream big, and I think that it's amazing to see how successful Cody has become post-WWE; how he has elevated his career and those around him and to pull off an event like this with one of the most popular wrestling stables ever is fantastic.
September 1st, 2018 folks, find out what provider or what service that these guys are going to be using to stream what I can only assume will be an awesome card and an awesome event.
And to top things off...........it was a cherry on top of the sundae to see Cody Rhodes destroy Vince Russo via Twitter. Fuck you Russo.
All I have to say is that I'm really glad that ALL IN sold out and it did so in such a quick fashion, proving the haters wrong so quickly, proving those who had faith right so dramatically, and even proving to Dave Meltzer who told Cody that it couldn't be done that it damn well could and did. Jim Cornette mentioned how Cody is like his father, they both always dream big, and I think that it's amazing to see how successful Cody has become post-WWE; how he has elevated his career and those around him and to pull off an event like this with one of the most popular wrestling stables ever is fantastic.
September 1st, 2018 folks, find out what provider or what service that these guys are going to be using to stream what I can only assume will be an awesome card and an awesome event.
And to top things off...........it was a cherry on top of the sundae to see Cody Rhodes destroy Vince Russo via Twitter. Fuck you Russo.