WrestleMania 35 Blamed for Mass Transit Issues, WWE Issues Response

Numerous WrestleMania 35 attendants took to social media early Monday morning with photos and videos of massive crowds waiting for trains and Ubers at MetLife Stadium following the seven-and-a-half hour event.

The crowds caused massive delays for the local mass transit system. NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith released a statement on the delays to NorthJersey.com early Monday morning regarding the delays, blaming WWE for their decision to have the event run until 12:30 a.m. local time. He said the company did not alert NJ Transit of the show’s length until late Sunday evening.

“The primary factor contributing to the post-event delays was the WWE’s decision to extend the event to 12:30 a.m., which had significant operational impacts on the evening,” Smith said. “NJ TRANSIT was not informed of this decision until late last night.”

“The decision to extend this event resulted in our inability to operate some of those trains due to federal requirements limiting train crew hours,” he added.

WWE spokesperson Matthew Altman responded to Smith’s comments, saying that WWE does not advertise when their events end “just like other sports and entertainment events.”

“We regret any inconveniences fans may have experienced with mass transportation after the event,” Altman said in a statement.

Even New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, who was at the event, commented on the situation siding with Smith’s statement.

“At the end of the day folks are frustrated, they ought to be,” Murphy said. “It’s completely, utterly dog-ate-my-homework unacceptable.”

WrestleMania 35 set a new attendance record for most fans inside MetLife Stadium for a WWE event with 82,265 fans in attendance. The show was the second highest-grossing WWE event in history behind only WrestleMania 32 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Funny enough, Murphy commented on the WrestleMania attendance in a story on WWE.com.

“WWE outdid themselves by creating an even more exciting WrestleMania than we experienced six years ago,” Murphy said. “The WWE Universe helped deliver significant economic results to New Jersey, and we look forward to the opportunity of hosting WrestleMania again in the future.”

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