WWE's ticket prices have become an unfortunate topic in the wrestling industry these days after several fans began to point out how expensive prices have become under TKO compared to Vince McMahon's years running the promotion. While some, like Matt Hardy, believe that TKO isn't actively trying to harm fans but are instead focused on optimizing profit, former TNA President Scott D'Amore believes they are being nefarious.
"TKO's Mark Shapiro may be the most honest executive in all of sports. His admission that TKO feels Vince McMahon screwed up by pricing WWE tickets for families and not squeezing every penny out of fans was very...well, direct," D'Amore wrote in an edition of his "The D'Amore Drop" column for "Uncrowned." Additionally, he expressed how MarkShapiro plainly said that they simply don't want WWE to be something that parents can bring their kids to enjoy anymore. "We're approaching the point where the get-in price for WrestleMania is going to be massively over what many fans can even afford to save up for. And I agree this is shortsighted they are freezing out the next generation of wrestling fans."
D'Amore further expressed that the love of pro wrestling has been something passed down from parents to their children, and in some cases, from grandparents to their grandchildren, emphasizing how important this dynamic has always been. "WWE which, let's remind ourselves, is already making more money than ever before is on the verge of severing that and having only the wealthy be able to attend the matches," he wrote.
While WWE may be under fire for their ticket prices, AEW has instead boldly proclaimed that they won't be following a similar strategy to TKO's, whichKenny Omega personally expressed, according toScott D'Amore. Because of this, D'Amore believes that this is an area where AEW might be able to gain some traction in its race against WWE. "AEW has a real opening here, just by continuing to price its tickets so anyone who wants to come can come," he wrote.
"I just called Mark Shapiro honest, and I can't help but wonder if he'd be honest enough to admit...that WWE is aggressively counter-programming AEW," D'Amore also pointed out, considering that several WWE Premium Live Events this year have directly gone up against AEW pay-per-views, which was once a rare occurrence. "Again, there's no rule or law about counter-programming," D'Amore wrote, calling competition "a fight."
D'Amore then clarified that he finds the counter-programming situation amusing, especially since WWE continues to claim that AEW isn't competition while still obviously attacking them whenever they have the chance.
