WrestleReunion being suspended

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WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby Lord Akiyama » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:35 pm

The disappointing turnout for this year's LA show along with the extremely disappointing sales in Toronto have caused Sal to put it on hold until further notice.

http://www.wrestlereunion.com/wrestlereunion-update-la-and-more/
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Re: WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby Itchypanda » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:37 pm

Just read this. Very sad. For those who don't want to click the link, here is the excerpt I read from another site:

WrestleReunion's Sal Corrente has announced via press release that WrestleReunion is suspending further convention events as of today. Corrente said that the decision was made due to dwindling attendance in 2012, with attendance in Los Angeles making "the idea of returning there extremely unlikely" and the sales in Toronto this weekend not meeting expectations.

Corrente said, "Our results, along with results of other autograph shows that I am involved in, along with a glut of events that are out there tell me that it is time to take a step back and let conditions correct themselves and or let other opportunities come to the fore front. I am currently exploring some potential single show events using some of the legends and younger talent that we have used over the last several years at WrestleReunion events."

You can see the full message from Corrente below:

We told everybody that we would make a decision regarding the future of WrestleReunion following our event in Toronto. That time has now come and we have unfortunately decided that WrestleReunion will not be running future events at this time.

After a brief hiatus from our first three events, we resumed WrestleReunion (4) in Los Angeles in 2010. We battled a tough economy and the stigma of a previous failed convention in San Francisco, but we saw potential for growth and immediately decided to return the following year. Our return to LA in 2011 turned out to be our highest attended convention of all time and then had a very successful event in Atlanta.

After these two amazing events, we really felt that economy had recovered to the point where there was a market for WrestleReunion. We decided in April of 2011 that in addition to returning to Los Angeles, we would continue to run an event tied to WrestleMania weekend and also bring this to the Toronto market, our most requested and most vocal city based on our feedback. Nearly one year in advance, we planned three cities for the first quarter of 2012 with the option to do a fourth city (Chicago) in the fall.

Unfortunately, 2012 in Los Angeles saw a dramatic decline in our attendance from the previous year and made the idea of returning there extremely unlikely. We felt it was in our best interest to get through our next two events before making any longer term decisions, as the success of those two cities would likely play a role in our decision making. Quite simply, Toronto sales didn’t meet our expectations. Despite nearly one year of advance notice and having lots of local promoters and media helping to publicize the event, we didn’t reach enough people interested in our product.

Our results, along with results of other autograph shows that I am involved in, along with a glut of events that are out there tell me that it is time to take a step back and let conditions correct themselves and or let other opportunities come to the fore front. I am currently exploring some potential single show events using some of the legends and younger talent that we have used over the last several years at WrestleReunion events. I have always wanted WrestleReunion to provide fans with something they can’t get anywhere else and I feel like we have done that. It could have been an option to scale back our model but I have always felt either go big or go home.

I wanted to thank everybody that has attended a WrestleReunion event, particularly the fans that purchased VIP ticket to our events in the Los Angeles, Toronto, Atlanta, and Miami shows, many of you purchasing prior to even knowing the full lineup of guests. You were a small number, but very loyal. We just wish we had twice as many of you! Don’t take this as WrestleReunion is going away permanently we just aren’t ready to announce any events in any cities at this time and I have absolutely informed the Westin hotel in Los Angeles that we wont be returning for 2013. I am always looking for the next opportunity that makes sense for myself the talent and mostly the fans.

I also wanted to thank our lead sponsor, Highspots.com. their financial support made these events possible. It is my understanding they will continue to run conventions tied to the WrestleMania weekends and will always keep their options open to further business opportunities in other cities.

“The Big Cheese” Sal Corrente, WrestleReunion Founder
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Re: WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby El Asian » Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:29 pm

sucks this happened and I believe WrestleReunion had issues working with the Westin for the LA show compared to the Hilton and I honestly think the reason why things didn't work out the 3rd year in LA was because WrestleReunion was mostly focusing on Pro Wrestling Superstars shows as the main attraction, besides the autograph sessions instead of having another PWG show for Saturday night as well the Legends Battle Royal for Pro Wrestling Superstars felt lacking compared to the one for the PWG show a year before and the fact they were running 3 wrestling shows during the Royal Rumble weekend might also have been a factor, I think so at least although I would think having Mike Tyson could have drew a few more people though I think Tyson was a later addition to advertise anyways and it was from another vendor

hopefully things can be worked out, I really did enjoy the shows they did have like the PWG and DG show as well as the 5 Dollar Wrestling
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Re: WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby Lord Akiyama » Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:31 am

Another reason, I feel, that the third LA event did not quite succeed the way they wanted is because the second year was such a tough act to follow talent-wise. That's not to say the third year was bad, hell I thought they had a strong line up, but the star power of that second year was so big that the third year was going to be a huge struggle to match. The same can be said about the WrestleRoyal. How the hell could you possible compete when the second year's finale came down to Piper and Funk?

Nevertheless, I'm sadden that they won't be back next year because I've had a blast all three years. I thought the PWS show was fine and a fun spectacle, though I do agree heavily that they should have just made it DGUSA and PWG back to back as opposed to trying to run three shows.
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Re: WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby LBOinyamouf4sho » Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:50 am

El Asian wrote:sucks this happened and I believe WrestleReunion had issues working with the Westin for the LA show compared to the Hilton and I honestly think the reason why things didn't work out the 3rd year in LA was because WrestleReunion was mostly focusing on Pro Wrestling Superstars shows as the main attraction, besides the autograph sessions instead of having another PWG show for Saturday night as well the Legends Battle Royal for Pro Wrestling Superstars felt lacking compared to the one for the PWG show a year before and the fact they were running 3 wrestling shows during the Royal Rumble weekend might also have been a factor, I think so at least although I would think having Mike Tyson could have drew a few more people though I think Tyson was a later addition to advertise anyways and it was from another vendor

hopefully things can be worked out, I really did enjoy the shows they did have like the PWG and DG show as well as the 5 Dollar Wrestling



they told me straight up that my money(as somebody who bought a ticket to the DGUSA show) was not as good as somebody who purchased a ticket to the PWS show, thus access to the vendors room was denied to me and the people i was with. now i'm not saying that's why things didn't work out but that mindset likely had something to do with it. i mean if somebody has money and wants to spend it, LET THEM.
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Re: WrestleReunion being suspended

Postby El Asian » Fri May 11, 2012 3:35 pm

I agree, that attitude seems odd but from what I can tell, Sal Corrente, the guy promoting WrestleReunion, had some ego about him, probably nothing major though I do remember his angry rant about Serena Deeb when she canceled her WrestleReunion appearance to work Tajiri's SMASH instead, if there is another WrestleReunion in LA again, here's some ideas I think they could do

-run a WrestleReunion weekend that won't coincide with the Royal Rumble if in January again, maybe hold it the week before the Royal Rumble at least
-focus on doing a PWG show on Saturday nights instead of focusing on doing a Pro Wrestling Superstars as well as any other company that they can for a Friday night like DGUSA or ROH (though I would prefer another PWG show on Friday night instead for an All Star Wrestling)
-keep the 5 Dollar Wrestling on Friday and the Legends Battle Royal for Saturday
-have some guests from WrestleReunion in LA make a return, I can understand why they don't bring back guests often (besides Jimmy Hart) to make things fresh but most conventions do bring in the same guest every yeah, so I don't think it be that much of an issue and fans would like to see wrestlers again for another year

as for what guests, no clue but with Shawn Michaels doing bookings for autograph sessions, so they could probably talk to his booking group to appear and bring back Bret Hart on whoever provides in bringing Bret Hart for autographs and put them for a photo session is one possibility I like to see happen
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