Collectibles Column – The Cost of WrestleMania Week 7

The Cost of WrestleMania, Week 7: Volatile Secondary Market Activity Picks Up

 Current Events

The WrestleMania undercard appeared to take some shape over the last week. In a not-quite “Mega Powers explode” storyline, Y2AJ disbanded and now A.J. Styles and Chris Jericho are on a collision course for WrestleMania. Sami Zayn showed up on Raw to attack Kevin Owens in a match against Neville, so WWE is either building to a one-on-one bout for the Intercontinental Title or a multi-person ladder match. Newly heel Ryback is targeting U.S. champion Kalisto, so look for that match on the WrestleMania 32 pre-show.

WWE used this week to build toward Saturday’s Roadblock pay-per-view and did little to advance the two WrestleMania main events. The Undertaker and Roman Reigns were MIA. Triple H was selling for Dean Ambrose, attempting to convince fans there might be a title change at Roadblock. And Shane McMahon … well, he beat up some indie wrestlers dressed as security guards.

Expensive Floor Seats Still Available

The story remains the same for potential ticket buyers: if you want the expensive tickets to WrestleMania, there are plenty out there. Several searches for “best available tickets” on Wednesday morning yielded plenty of $2,360 floor tickets.

The cheapest seats available right now are in the end zone opposite the entrance stage; 200-level seats are available for $207 per ticket. 

eBay Sales Much More Erratic

As of March 8, there were 128 active listings for WrestleMania 32 tickets on eBay, up slightly from 125 a week earlier. The number of new completed listings during that period jumped 16.1 percent, from 31 to 36.

Over the last several weeks, the average per-ticket WrestleMania ticket markup on eBay has been about 25 percent; cheaper seats generally bring a higher mark-up around 40 percent. But, with just about a month to go, eBay bidding is increasing and the per-ticket market over the last week has been all over the board.

A pair of tickets in the cheap seats (Section 412) sold for $368, about 72 percent ($77 per ticket) higher than the original cost. A couple of auctions for 300-level tickets ended at about 50-55 percent higher than the original value. And one unfortunate seller lost about 32 percent ($74 per ticket) on a pair of 200-level seats.

The NXT Factor

Tickets to NXT Takeover: Dallas are sold out from Ticketmaster, and ticketholders aren’t looking to dump their tickets either. As of March 8 there were only seven active ticket listings on eBay, and most of those were for single tickets. The only pairs available were listed for about $900 to $1,000 per pair.

No NXT tickets have sold since Feb. 24, when one pair with a face value of $100 ($50 per ticket) sold for $395 – a mark-up of about 280 percent once fees are considered.

Comparing ticket sales for WrestleMania 32 to NXT Takeover: Dallas isn’t exactly fair; the NXT show is in an arena about one-tenth the size of AT&T Stadium. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Arena has a capacity of about 10,000, and the tickets are much cheaper.

Analysis

Say what you will about the WrestleMania 32 card: too many McMahons, main eventers in their 40s and 50s, a top babyface who isn’t over. A lot of WrestleMania ticketholders don’t care. Many who are planning on attending this year continue to stress that the overall weekend experience is the selling point, not just the main card for Mania.

“The show will be good no matter what,” Torch reader Kelijah (@KPnDC) noted on Twitter. “At (WrestleMania 30), my friends and I kept saying how much fun we were having and it was only (Friday). Mania itself was icing on the cake. … You have to take in the city to really make these trips worth it.”

Torch reader Anthony Mamo from Australia, who traveled to WrestleMania 31 last year, agreed. “It’s become such a weeklong event that the best memories are often not in the ring,” he noted.

PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore can be contacted at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @MMooreWriter.