WrestleMania 33: The Official Thread

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Gerard Meltzer was already on about the attendance, considering the obscene size of the stage 75k was obviously a bs number.

Dave thinks 78,000 was the official attendance for WM3. Seriously, that's what he believes.

He apparently personally counted everyone at WM32 and didn't get to over 101K like WWE said, so you know he's credible.

If he can do that, counting to 70K would be a breeze.

Honestly, the guy is such a tool when it comes to this stuff. I'm sure he's an expert on stadium capacity for every building in the Western world.

[Gerard]

Originally Posted by The CyNick Dave thinks 78,000 was the official attendance for WM3. Seriously, that's what he believes. He apparently personally counted everyone at WM32 and didn't get to over 101K like WWE said, so you know he's credible. If he can do that, counting to 70K would be a breeze. Honestly, the guy is such a tool when it comes to this stuff. I'm sure he's an expert on stadium capacity for every building in the Western world.

Maybe so but its hardly like wwe have much in the way of credibility when everything about their performers is exaggerated. Heights, weights, why wouldn't attendance also factor into that, if they do it with heights and weights to make wrestlers seem larger than they are then surely making a show seem bigger than it is would also qualify.

Some of that is basically a legacy of the "wrestling business". But its a bit hard to believe that every time they do a wrestlemania they set some kind of attendance record.

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Gerard Maybe so but its hardly like wwe have much in the way of credibility when everything about their performers is exaggerated. Heights, weights, why wouldn't attendance also factor into that, if they do it with heights and weights to make wrestlers seem larger than they are then surely making a show seem bigger than it is would also qualify. Some of that is basically a legacy of the "wrestling business". But its a bit hard to believe that every time they do a wrestlemania they set some kind of attendance record.

There's a lot of things at play. Any promoter will do whatever they can to boost the number they announce. I know for a fact rock concerts used the same methodology for counting attendance (ie staff, performers, etc), so it's not unique to wrestling.

The other issue is that the ONLY "source" against the numbers that Vince puts out is Dave. And if you hear how Dave acquires his numbers, it's far more ripe for errors than Vince's numbers. It's not like Dave is standing at the gate with a clicker in his hand as every person walks through the door. Like I said in my post, do you really think the real WM3 number is 78k? Like exactly 78k right on the nose. Because that's the number Dave has quoted for years, decades actually. If his source is so credible, you would think he could report a number something like say 77,964. But he can't. Why? Because he's full of it. Always has been.

The bottom line on all this is whether there were 101k people in attendance at 32 or 98k, it's still a massive crowd that generated the largest $$$ gate in the history of the business. That's all that really matters. And this year what matters is this was the second biggest gate in the business, and the most viewed Mania of all time at nearly 2 million folks. That's fucking impressive. That's the real story.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by The CyNick The other issue is that the ONLY "source" against the numbers that Vince puts out is Dave. And if you hear how Dave acquires his numbers, it's far more ripe for errors than Vince's numbers. It's not like Dave is standing at the gate with a clicker in his hand as every person walks through the door. Like I said in my post, do you really think the real WM3 number is 78k? Like exactly 78k right on the nose. Because that's the number Dave has quoted for years, decades actually. If his source is so credible, you would think he could report a number something like say 77,964. But he can't. Why? Because he's full of it. Always has been.

Meltzer has said plenty of times in the past his numbers come the actual arenas whenever he'd contact them for a report about an event. Even mentioned the 78k for Mania III is him just rounding up the actual number to make it easier to remember.

Even mentioned several times the breakdown when it comes to attendance numbers and how it takes months for the actual final number to be confirmed. Last year's Mania didn't get confirmed until a few weeks ago and turned out the paid attendance was even lower than previous estimates.

Also has decades of experience fact checking WWE numbers which is how he can safely estimate the amount of padding used. Usually goes between 10k-20k for big events and a few thousands for smaller events and tv shows.

[The CyNick]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Meltzer has said plenty of times in the past his numbers come the actual arenas whenever he'd contact them for a report about an event. Even mentioned the 78k for Mania III is him just rounding up the actual number to make it easier to remember. Even mentioned several times the breakdown when it comes to attendance numbers and how it takes months for the actual final number to be confirmed. Last year's Mania didn't get confirmed until a few weeks ago and turned out the paid attendance was even lower than previous estimates. Also has decades of experience fact checking WWE numbers which is how he can safely estimate the amount of padding used. Usually goes between 10k-20k for big events and a few thousands for smaller events and tv shows.

I don't doubt he asks, what I doubt it's the source of the info. Usually his numbers come from spotters who estimate crowd size. Just because someone works for an arena, doesn't mean they have access to the actual paid attendance. That's why all of his numbers for live events are "4000", or "5000". You never seem him publish actual numbers with sourcing from the arena because his sources are BS. If say Camping World Stadium had real numbers, they could just be forthright and say the actual attendance was "X".

He's got this gimmick down to a science where his followers just believe anything he says. You're even doing it in your post. He has decades of fact checking WWE numbers, but who is fact checking him? Bruce Prichard who no longer has anything to do with WWE has gone on record saying Dave is full of crap with his numbers. This is from a guy who would actually have access to real numbers based on his past employment with WWE. Give me other sources other than Dave who can verify that day WM3 had 78k fans instead of 93k? You can't, because it's just the info he collects from these mysterious sources who they themselves lack credibility, and people in the IWC just drink the Kool aid.

A big part of fact checking is actually presenting facts. Dave misses the mark on that one. He's a nice guy, he's just a carny, and his followers don't see that. I still enjoy talking to him when I get the chance though.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Originally Posted by The CyNick Just because someone works for an arena, doesn't mean they have access to the actual paid attendance.

It doors if they're arena/stadium management. They HAVE TO have records and maintain them, I'm sure probably in perpetuity too.

If Silverdome management says WWF's 93,173 @ WM III attendance claim is correct, then I believe them unless/until there's empirical evidence that shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the number is untrue and inflated by WWE and Silverdome management records.