WWE News: Future WWE WrestleMania Potentially Taking Place In London, England?
WWE fans in the United Kingdom have asked for it for a long time, but could it ever happen? Could we see a WrestleMania take place in the UK, specifically in London, England? The answer for some time has been no. While the stadiums are usually a bit bigger than most American stadiums, many Americans know that WWE would have a tougher time to do this live event in a place where timezones are not favorable to Americans.
While the English would respond with, “too bad, we have to deal with it every year,” No matter how tempting it may be to please British fans, WWE is an American business. They have stock in America, partnerships in America, etc.
However, WWE might really be considering the idea of running WrestleMania and the RAW after in London. Over the weekend, John Cena told fans that he thinks the UK fans are great and they deserve a WrestleMania, too. This was one of the few times Cena was cheered within UK borders.
This is interesting as John Cena is the mouthpiece for what WWE wants to do. If he claims something, chances are WWE asked him to do it. If there is enough demand and an ability to work out a live feed that would be proper for all audiences, WrestleMania could be in England in a few years. It comes down to when. WrestleMania gets bids nowadays, just like the American Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup and other major events.
WWE already has places in mind for the next few years. The next available time not yet taken is in 2017. 2016 is still a possibility, but most believe London would not have a fair shot until 2017.
The real issue always comes down to various things such as money. Would WWE want to spend a big amount of money for London to have a WrestleMania? Doing a live show from this area is tough enough. Then you add in PPV issues. What people do not realize is that PPVs through cable and satellite companies are not always profitable for the people who made the movie or event. Companies take a percentage of the buys.
WWE usually does good buys for PPVs, which allowed them to run them with major companies and make a profit. Still, when you have to get PPVs on all cable and satellite feeds, there can be a loss.
The great advantage the WWE has now that they didn’t have before is the WWE Network. The WWE Network is an internet streaming company in America. The UK will most likely get a channel for the WWE Network, but it would flow through the internet even still. That not only kills the issue with PPV loses, but it also allows them to send feeds with lower cost.
Feeds normally work like this. Camera to truck to satellite. Then for cable, it goes down to the cable base and then streams to the TV. For satellite, you go down to a feed station, and the feed is then sent back up to a satellite and into your home.
Those are bypassed with Internet. You instantly film something live, and it goes through the ‘net the moment it hits the TV truck. The cost is far less AND the time is easier. So WWE might be able to avoid the major costs it would normally have to endure. That means they get far more profit in the end. The only hurdle now would be the timezone dilemma. WWE would have to film thinking of American crowds being anywhere between five and seven hours behind the London time. So they’d need to either film later in the day for the English or show WrestleMania much earlier in America.
There would be no way that WWE would do a delayed taping as they do with RAW when it is filmed there. That said, WWE will have to work out a lot of kinks, but it will be interesting to see if they do the event there one day.
[IMG Credits: What Culture, digitalspy.uk]
