Once it was announced on March 16 that WrestleMania 35 would take place at Metlife Stadium, there has been concern about the independent shows running that weekend. After 6 years, WrestleMania would be returning to the New York/New Jersey area. A lot has changed since 2013, the year WrestleMania 29 took place. In 2013 the first ever WrestleCon took place at Meadowlands Exposition Center. Piggybacking off the Greatest Spectacle in Sports Entertainment, the event was one of the largest collaborations between independent wrestling companies at the time. Promotions such as CHIKARA, CZW, Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE, and SHIMMER all took place over the course of the weekend and all under one roof.
The following year WrestleCon and WWN parted ways. This year’s WrestleCon events included shows from The Crash, CZW, The Wrestling Revolver, and the WrestleCon Supershow. WWN Live’s events included GCW’s Bloodsport, Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2, EVOLVE, PROGRESS, and the WWN Live Supershow. This doesn’t include Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor, which has been an annual tradition in 2006.
With no official locations for these events yet, there’s a concern that these events will be scattered across New York City. WrestleCon has been the only one to announce they will be running in the Times Square area.
We wont be there. The building was already rented. As we noted in this years event program, we will be in Times Square next year. https://t.co/OiTtAsg7v8
— WrestleCon – Philadelphia- April 4-7 (@wrestlecon) April 21, 2018
Located at 1535 Broadway, the New York Marriott Marquis hotel is the most ideal location for 2019’s WrestleCon. With 48 event rooms and a total of 124,755 square feet, this gives WrestleCon the ability to fill the place up with plenty of wrestlers and vendors for meet and greet opportunities. The Times Square location also has the Broadway Ballroom which has a capacity of up to 2,800.
Ring of Honor already has a regular New York location with the Manhattan Center. In recent years, ROH has sold out the venue with over 1,800 fans in attendance each time. This year’s Supercard of Honor drew their biggest crowd ever with 6,000 fans at the Lakefront Arena. It’s safe to say that Supercard of Honor has outgrown the Hammerstein Ballroom.
Just one block away, the World’s Most Famous Arena houses the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. With a capacity of up to 5,000 this would be the best location for Ring of Honor. The Theater at Madison Square Garden is no stranger to wrestling events. The venue held a NXT house show on November 16, 2016 that drew over 3,000 fans. It was also home of the Lion’s Den match between Owen Hart and Ken Shamrock from SummerSlam 1998. Ring of Honor could not only draw a great number at this venue but also sell it out.
With Ring of Honor’s move to a bigger venue, this leaves the Manhattan Center without a wrestling event. That’s where WWN Live comes in.
With the success of this year’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2, the Hammerstein Ballroom would be the most ideal location. The Game Changer Wrestling promoted event drew close to 2,000 fans at the Pontchartrain Convention & Civic Center in Louisiana. The UK promotion Progress Wrestling can also benefit from the Hammerstein Ballroom location. The last time Progress Wrestling was in NYC, it took place at the Elmcor Center in Corona, Queens. Over 1,500 fans attended and it was well over capacity. JJSB3 and Progress has the ability to fill up the 1,800 seat venue.
As for the other events that don’t draw as much, there’s always the Grand Ballroom which is also located in the Manhattan Center. With the capacity of around 850 people, the Grand Ballroom can house any other WWN Live events.
The Jacob Javits Convention Center would be a great location for WrestleMania Axxess. The home of the New York Comic Con, housed 180,000 fans in for the 2016 NYCC. The location is also a 20 minute drive to Metlife Stadium, or 45 minutes using public transportation.
With all events being within 15 minutes from each other, this would benefit all the wrestling fans attending these events that weekend. We may not know the locations yet but we can only hope that the events during 2019’s WrestleMania weekend will be easily accessible.