On the latest episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett weighed in on the sluggish SummerSlam ticket chatter, taking a historical view of the business’s ebbs and flows while questioning some of WWE’s recent big-picture decisions. You can check out his comments below:
“From a historical perspective, you always have ebbs and flows and ups and downs, and I don’t want to overanalyze it. But when you hear my old man talk, or Lawler, or any of the territory bookers and promoters — people who actually lived it and know how you really make the stew — I just have to scratch my head. I was vocal about the John Cena finish in his last match. We’ve discussed over and over whether Cena’s last year was a real momentum creator that sold tickets and merch. My old man subscribed to the fact, and lots of territory promoters lived on this: get one program hot, that’s all you’ve got to do, and it carries you. Underneath, you can ebb and flow, build stars, turn over talent. So is this a result of who’s advertised for SummerSlam? I don’t think so. I think, and I hope I’m wrong, it’s the boom — how far are we on the backside of it? I keep going to consumer confidence and the cumulative effect. Then you look at us at AEW and our presentation, nine matches on a pay-per-view or 13 in a night, versus four or five with lots of commercials. But back-to-back stadium nights in Minneapolis — where is the data? I’m not going to say Minneapolis is a bad town, I think it’s a very good town, but where’s the data to back up that back-to-back stadium nights will work, or that Brock Lesnar is a bigger needle mover there just because he’s from there? I’ve always thought about the hometown deal, and Vince McMahon was very obvious — he’d go the other way. A guy working in his hometown, Vince would beat you.”
