G1 Supercard sells out Madison Square Garden in minutes
Just shy of a month ago, news broke that Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling were teaming up to present a pay per view at Madison Square Garden during Wrestlemania weekend titled: G1 Supercard. As of this morning, that event has been reported to have sold out almost immediately.
These series of tweets sum it up fairly well.
MSG tickets are live 🌏
Let’s sell this place out and change the game!#villain ☔️ https://t.co/53SeA7b6ym
— Marty Scurll (@MartyScurll) August 10, 2018
They’re already gone Marty.
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) August 10, 2018
That was one hell of a tweet
— Marty Scurll (@MartyScurll) August 10, 2018
Just look at that time stamp on Cody’s response, 7:13. That’s 13 minutes after they went on sale. It’s not exactly an official report, but we did get confirmation from an official ROH statement that tickets indeed sold out just minutes after they went on sale.
Prior to the tickets going on sale to the general public, 12,000 of those tickets were sold during the presale to Honor Club members, with 9,000 moving on Wednesday alone.
I’ve said it time and time again, and I’m teetering on broken record status, but this is what the business needs. If ROH or NJPW can land a solid TV deal within the next couple years, we could be on the cusp of a revival of the Monday night wars from the days that WCW went toe to toe with WWF. It’s been rumored that WWE is becoming even more aggressive with their signees, as they’ve been looking at the sensational luchador brothers: Pentagon Jr. and Fenix.
ROH GM Gilleland commented on a possible scenario if the Bullet Club boys: Cody or the Young Bucks were to go to WWE, and how that would affect them from a main event standpoint:
“Of course, we’re going to do everything that we can to keep them. And we have fair offers and fair plans to retain them. With that said, I don’t think we ever operate in fear. We always operate with solid backup plans. And we have to always think about what if this, and what if that. If they go to the WWE, and they very much deserve that opportunity, we’ll continue to offer the best wrestling that we can. There’s other talent out there. And we will continue as our brand has for the past however many years. We’ve lost top guys before…
Am I gonna make an aggressive attempt to retain them and sign longer-term agreements? Of course we are. But, at the end of the day, the ROH brand is about the ROH experience, and that’s how we continue to grow.”
For now, ROH and NJPW should pat each other on the back. They refuse to live in the shadow of their competition and are taking risks that will benefit not only themselves but their fans, by creating competition for WWE and making pro-wrestling as a whole a healthier, thriving business.
The business is changing. Buckle up.
— The Young Bucks (@MattJackson13) August 10, 2018
Braden Jackson – @Dembrae
Image provided by official Ring of Honor Twitter profile – @ringofhonor