The landscape of the wrestling world changed a bit with both All In and the G1 Supershow in Madison Square Garden selling out almost immediately. Granted, WWE is still the #1 promotion, but independent wrestling has been gaining steam over the last several years thanks to the high-quality matches and being a true alternative to the WWE.
However, many in the wrestling community do question whether the Madison Square Garden show could sellout on a non-WrestleMania weekend.
ROH's Joe Koff spoke with Paste Magazine on the possibly of returning to MSG without the biggest wrestling show of the year running on the same weekend:
"Yeah, again, we apply a lot of disciplines to our decision making, and we'll take a look at that. We'll take a look at that outcome. The partnership with New Japan would lend that to other arenas. We need to get through this one first, and then we can have those conversations. But those conversations, you know the Madison Square Garden conversation really started internally when WrestleMania was announced to be in the New York area. And that's kind of what precipitates the building or the venue that you would need to have a show that weekend. Obviously it's a fantastic place to have a show, because not only are there so many wrestling fans who love to come to New York, but the metropolitan area, within three hours each way—north, east, south, west—you have probably, what, 30 to 40% of the population of the United States? It's a pretty big place to draw from.
"And I think that was the challenge. I'm not in [WWE's] minds, I don't know how that planning goes, and maybe they thought that, well, if we go to New York, where are these other promotions going to play? Because they probably don't like everybody [and I put this in air quotes] 'living off' their back, and I don't think that's the case at all. Their shows stand on their own, they sell out on their own, why shouldn't the fans who come for that weekend have an ability and availability to see other promotions that they may not get a chance to see? It works for everyone. That weekend is a fan's weekend. We can call it what we want, we can label it what we want, people can say what they want, but it's really one of the great weekends that belong to the fans in wrestling. The wrestling community—and I'm going to use that word because I just value it so dearly—when you're a wrestling fan, and you're at a match, you're with people who are also wrestling fans, and are comfortable in their skin being a wrestling fan.
"And since Ring of Honor has really been active in the business, which is really because of our television and our distribution and our company and just the way we have done our business, I think we've made wrestling a better business because of our presence. We see that with talent, with our talent that currently wrestles with us, talent that has left us to go wrestle with other promotions. The business is good and I think the business is good partially because of us. And I'm proud of that."
Koff also talks about how social media has changed pro wrestling, and who he'd like to see ROH World Champion Jay Lethal face. Check out the full article
here.