Q&A Sunday (Company numbers, Milwaukee prediction, more) (Patreon)

Trying something new here - let me know if you enjoy it. Here are a compilation of questions I received this week.

Q: What is your guess at tickets sold by show time? (for Dynamite in Milwaukee, WI)

A: I think they have a great shot at 5K. Anything above the current average of 4,740 is a good sign.

Q: What are your thoughts on the announced figure for Rampage at the United Center?

A: I wish I could get some clarity on this but someone in AEW told me they do not share their sale numbers (on-going or final) outside of AEW platforms. I tried. But here's what I know; the ticket map is what it is and I knew every section that was opened. I feel very confident about my number with regards to those seats. What I don't know is suite information. I've heard 15K-16K were in the building and that would suggest there were people in suites because there's no way you get to that number with the opened sections. These are my estimates and there will be times where decent discrepancies exist (see SummerSlam but I think everyone can see through that one) but again, I go strictly by the ticket map available to me. That way, when they run a future show here, I have a direct comparison.  

Q: What was the most interesting interactions you've had with wrestlers on twitter?

A: I won't share any of the personal interactions I've had but it was really cool to see dozens of AEW talent quote tweeting my Arthur Ashe live updates. 

Q: What did you think of the WWE number for SummerSlam?

A: I've heard from several people they release attendance figures for entertainment purposes so it's hard to take them seriously. Of course the die-hards will defend them at all costs but even Nick Khan said 45K paid for SummerSlam in his recent interview. I had a great feel for that ticket map and I know my estimate wasn't far off. But here's the thing; it was a great number so whether you backed their figure or mine, it should be celebrated. We won't see another number like that until next year.

Q: You mentioned upgrading your equipment, what do you expect to get out of it that you don't now?

A: I'm very excited for my new PC to arrive on Wednesday. I will be able to run any number of scripts at once and hopefully 24/7. This will allow me to capture section changes much quicker. Right now, I can log certain shows but it's not as simple as it will be by the end of the week. I'll also be able to pick up on trends, comps and more. The important thing for me is to be able to track every show possible. I'm currently running scripts for about 12 shows now and sometimes those have to be interrupted when I'm commuting to work.

Q: Do you think the Arthur Ashe show sells out?

A: With the current capacity, yes I do. Especially if the rumors are true about Bryan Danielson coming in. 

Q: Have you ever been flat out wrong and corrected by a company?

A: One time... for a Daily's place show I was just wrong about my estimate. And it was a really bad number for AEW so of course it got a lot of traction. This was the time they were accepting orders for tickets over the phone so I missed these. It was also a limited capacity show with social distance seating, aka a tough ticket map. Rafael chimed in (even though he doesn't follow me) and noted how many had been sold. I learned a good lesson from that though and it's better not to post an estimate if you don't have a really good feel for it. 

Q: Any updates on the Cincinnati report of 8K?

A: Nothing concrete at this point other than it's not looking accurate to me. You can still get seats in any combination of quantity in sections opposite of the hard cam that I would expect to be gone. I've done enough ticket maps to know if they sold 8K, seats in those particular sections (215, 216) wouldn't be available in the combinations I tried. Also, after tracking sales every day for a long time now, it would suggest a massive jump from the 4K figure I received not too long ago. And this report was before CM Punk was official. It all adds up to being very unlikely that 8,000 tickets have been distributed at this time. I plan on giving their box office another call tomorrow to see if I can get anything else out of them or anything different since they told the reporter this figure.

Q: What will WWE numbers look like without Cena?

A: They have a lot of momentum at the moment so you should still see some really solid numbers. Some upcoming Raws and Smackdowns are not looking great (Miami, Oklahoma, Jax) but have a little time to make up some ground to their show's average. 

That's all for this week. Have a good night!