WWE announced last week that, after being shunted inside the WWE Performance Center and the WWE ThunderDome since last March, the wrestling promotion would finally be returning to its touring schedule with a 25-city tour lined up for this Summer. This schedule begins with the July 16 episode of Friday Night SmackDown at the Toyota Center in Houston, followed by the Money in the Bank pay-per-view at the Dickies Arena in Forth Worth and the July 19 episode of Monday Night Raw at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The rest of the locations for the tour have not been determined, though it’s been reported that Las Vegas will host the SummerSlam event in August.
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WWE confirmed on Monday that tickets for those first three shows will be going on sale on Wednesday.
Tickets go on sale this Wednesday for WWE’s return to live events. Which show are you planning on attending?
— WWE Careers (@WWECareers) May 24, 2021
WWE.com also released a liability waiver for all fans who choose to attend the events.
WWE was able to bring in more than 20,000 live fans for each night of WrestleMania 37 last month at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Since then the company has returned to utilizing the ThunderDome for episodes of Raw and SmackDown along with monthly pay-per-views. Hell in a Cell, the final pay-per-view of WWE’s Pandemic Era, will take place on June 20.
WWE president Nick Khan has repeatedly stated the plan was always to have live crowds return in the second half of the year. He also assured investors during a recent conference call that the return of fans will help bring more excitement back to WWE’s weekly shows.
“… As it relates to live events that [the audience] always matters to us. Our fans are our fourth wall, if you will,” Khan said in a recent investors’ conference call. “We know immediately from them what’s working and what’s not working. The ThunderDome was a phenomenal creation by the creative team here, but to get live fans and to get our performers in front of them, we yearn for that as much as our performers do. And we think it’s going to have a direct impact on all parts of our business in an overwhelmingly positive way.”
