December 13, 1998. That was the last time that World Wrestling Entertainment, or it’s previous iteration, the World Wrestling Federation, ran a Pay Per View event in Vancouver. It was a raucous night down at the then named “General Motors Place”, as 20,042 Vancouver wrestling fans packed the Garage for WWF Rock Bottom: In Your House, to see a twenty seven year old Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson defend his World Wrestling Federation Championship against Mankind, as well as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Undertaker fight for literal survival in a Buried Alive Match in the main event. This was the second Pay Per View Extravaganza that the World Wrestling Federation would run at the newly built GM Place, after hosting In Your House: International Incident a couple years earlier in 1996. The World Wrestling Federation would never return to Vancouver for another PPV event, and BC’s wrestling fans are getting restless.
It’s not that the WWF never came back, television tapings of Monday Night RAW happened at GM Place in 2000, and at the Pacific Coliseum in 2003, but after that, it would be a very long time before the now WWE and their camera crews would roll into Vancouver. Aside from the yearly untelevised “house show”, which could take place anywhere from the Coliseum or the Agrodome, all the way out to Abbotsford Centre in the Fraser Valley. The “dry spell” for WWE fans in Vancouver came to an end in the early months of 2018, when SmackDown came to Rogers Arena for a television taping. It was WWE’s first televised event in Vancouver in fifteen years, but still no Pay Per View events. If Vancouver wrestling fans wanted their “big show” fix (no pun intended), they would have to travel south to Seattle, Tacoma, or Portland to see WWE largest offerings.
Jump forward to this past September, and WWE came back to town for another House Show, this time at the Coliseum. The Rink on Renfrew was sold out for months, as local fans were clamoring for the chance to see the likes of the Undisputed Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, the French-Canadian Prizefighter, Kevin Owens, and the Legendary Rey Mysterio. So there’s clearly an appetite for professional wrestling in Vancouver, and specifically that of the WWE product, which raises the question. Why hasn’t WWE hosted a Premium Live Event in Vancouver?
BC Place is a prime candidate for an extravaganza like WrestleMania, although Vancouver’s chances of getting a WrestleMania are low. In the thirty eight year history of WWE’s Super Bowl, WrestleMania has only emanated from outside of the United States twice, both at SkyDome in Toronto, in 1990 and 2002 respectively, while the other thirty six instances of The Grandest Stage of Them All have taken place on American soil. WWE also has a bit of prejudice towards the Pacific Northwest, as they brought WrestleMania XIX to Safeco Field in Seattle, which got a historically low Pay Per View Buyrate, and for whatever reason, officials within the company blamed the city of Seattle on that poor draw, so there is suspicion that WWE wouldn’t bring their biggest show of the year back to the area.
But what about SummerSlam? WWE’s Big Three events are Royal Rumble in January, WrestleMania in April, and SummerSlam in August. All of these events are regularly held at baseball or football stadiums, and turn the host city into a travel destination across the wrestling world. Should WWE ever host SummerSlam at BC Place, they wouldn’t just be selling tickets to the 700,000 people that live in Vancouver, they’d also be attracting wrestling fans from across the country, continent, and even the world. European wrestling fans are well known for their willingness to make the trip across the pond for one of WWE’s premier events, and the economic benefits for the city would be huge. Just as big an impact as something like the Rugby Sevens or the World Junior Hockey Championship would bring, as all these fans would be here for at least three days; that’s three nights in a hotel, a minimum of nine meals at restaurant or other local establishments, some leisure and recreation time throughout the city, it’s nearly limitless.
#Wrestlemania block party pic.twitter.com/lFHs27Pi0U
— Bryan Alvarez (@bryanalvarez) April 8, 2018
Not to mention WWE’s love of being “The Biggest Event in Town”, throwing Block Parties, hosting charity events like celebrity golf games, and visiting schools to promote anti-bullying, the community impacts are substantial. There would also, more than likely, come an NXT Takeover show during the weekend, as well, where the company’s developmental brand has their own “Premium Live Event” on the WWE Network. This would more than likely take place at Rogers Arena or the Pacific Coliseum. The City of Vancouver hosting SummerSlam, or a WWE Event of a similar scope, could only be a sea of positives for the local community, people and businesses alike. Plus, it gives people who might never have a reason to come to British Columbia to experience why it it says Super Natural British Columbia in all those tourism advertisements. It has the potential to be the biggest event downtown Vancouver has seen since the Winter Olympics in 2010. In an era where cities have to bid on these massive events, like they were Super Bowls or World Cups, it would be in the best interest of the City of Vancouver to sink their teeth into the potential gold mine that in World Wrestling Entertainment, and if the people are serious about trying to get the Olympics back in Vancouver for 2030, why wouldn’t you use this as a “trial run”, so to speak. Of course, it’s much smaller crowd of people that would flow into the city as compared to the Games, but it’s a good feeler to see where bars and restaurants, hotels, and the City as a whole is ready to host big events on a world stage again. Plus, it’d be pretty cool to see BC Place jam packed with wrestling fans, going wild for WWE SummerSlam.
The ball is in your court, WWE and Vancouver… Make it happen.