As noted, WWE’s Money in the Bank premium live event was originally scheduled for a larger venue in Las Vegas. Due to low ticket sales, the company felt it was best to move the event from the Allegiant Stadium to the MGM Grand Garden Arena nearby, which ultimately sold out by the time the show began.
According to a new report from “Fightful“, the move “surprised some in the company” because Nick Khan, WWE’s President and Chief Revenue Officer, has been pushing for more stadium shows to take place. One source was hoping WWE would wait “until at least after Hell in a Cell to see how ticket sales changed” because they believed the company was relying too much on the buzz of the premium live event alone instead of the stories going into the show.
The people spoken to within the company noted that WWE either “did expect or should have expected” that UFC would be in town the same weekend, as that is a 4th of July tradition. They add that WWE originally also put a hold on Allegiant Stadium for Sunday, July 3 in case they wanted to simply move the day over and see if the ticket sales would do better in that scenario.
It was indicated that this is “one of [Khan’s] first misfires” since he started pushing for more Saturday night premium live events and stadium shows. After the change happened, top WWE stars like Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Rhea Ripley were all sidelined for a variety of reasons which forced the company to pivot some creative plans they booked. One WWE source reacted to the changes, saying, “Well, considering we couldn’t have predicted all of that and the event sold out at the new location, it doesn’t look too bad.”
