WWE Originally Planned To Hold 2022 Hall Of Fame Ceremony In 25k Seat Stadium

WWE fans who are visiting Dallas for WrestleMania 38 have a lot to be excited about. The Hall of Fame ceremony and SmackDown are set to take place on Friday at the American Airlines Center. It will be the kickoff to a weekend that will see hardcore fans spending nearly 20 hours at WWE events in just a few days.

The original plans for the Hall of Fame ceremony were far grander. The Dallas Mavericks initially were booked for an NBA game at the arena on the same night WWE wanted to run SmackDown and the Hall of Fame event. The team was kind enough to reschedule the game. Had they not, things could have been much different.

Dave Meltzer spoke about WWE’s original plan for the Hall of Fame on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. The idea was to have the Hall of Fame at a small outdoor stadium. Toyota Stadium, home of MLS club FC Dallas, would have been the likely target.

“The original idea was to do this at a stadium show. Not at AT&T Stadium, not that big one. SmackDown and the Hall of Fame, yeah. The American Airlines Center was booked for a Mavericks game. So, they weren’t going to be able to get it. So, they were looking at a 25,000 I think, seat stadium. They ended up being able to get the Mavericks to move the game and they got the Friday night for SmackDown.

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They’ll probably end up… They’re at, I think, around 10,000 tickets. The place would sell out at 14. They’re probably going to end up with a full house. But, a stadium, it would’ve been tough. Especially a third night at the stadium, even though it’s a different stadium. That’s a lot.

Stadium shows, you can do WrestleMania at the stadium, and you can do Tokyo Dome and everything like that, but wrestling is much better in arenas than stadiums. It really is.”

WWE was able to work something out with the Dallas Mavericks and will hold the event in the arena. Three stadium events in three nights would have been a tough sell. Instead, the American Airlines Center should be packed with enthusiastic fans as The Undertaker and Vader are immortalized as Hall of Fame inductees.

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Transcription by Ringside News