WWE SummerSlam Weekend Returning To Brooklyn 2016/17

After hosting the most successful Summerslam ever, it’s been reported by the New York Daily News that the Barclays Center in Brooklyn will hold Summerslam, NXT Takeover and Monday Night Raw in 2016 and in 2017 as well.

Next year’s schedule for SummerSlam weekend has been agreed to already and looks like this:

NXT Takeover – Saturday August 20
Summerslam – Sunday August 21
Monday Night Raw – Monday August 22

With Brooklyn hosting all three events this year, it marked the first time in company history that the Barclays Center sold out for three straight nights. John P. Saboor, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Special Events, spoke to the New York Daily News about the decision to have Brooklyn host this trio of shows for at least three consecutive years.

“The opportunity to be in New York City for the next two years provides an amazing platform for us to be able to work closely with our partners in NYC and New York City to blueprint the continued growth of our second-largest annual celebration, and it gives us a chance to build upon all of the points of success and all of the best practices that were experienced in our presentation there this year. It’s the world’s greatest city and set of partners to incubate the incremental growth of this as our second-largest celebration.”

Summerslam Weekend 2015 broke all records. NXT Takeover drew 15,589 which smashed their biggest attendance (5,200 during Wrestlemania 31 weekend) and Summerslam itself grossed $1.3 million, which is the highest domestic gross in the history of the event by drawing 15,702 fans to the Barclays Center.

Barclays Center Vice President Keith Sheldon, spoke with Daily News about his excitement of bringing the WWE Summerslam weekend back to Barclays and Brooklyn.

“We’re thrilled that they wanted to once again partner with us, and we jumped at the opportunity to lock them in for two additional years. WWE has been such great partners to us (and) the building in general. After the success of this past August’s events, it was a no-brainer to bring them back in 2016 and ’17.”

Finally, WWE’s presence will be more than just the three events mentioned above. They will also be pushing their own Be A Star anti bullying initiative, Make A Wish visits, and other charity events, to help promote not only WWE’s charitable work, but the city of New York too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fU2X74xvXM

Ski’s Take – As Mr. Keith Sheldon was quoted saying, with how well the whole Summerslam weekend went, it really was a no-brainer to bring them back to Brooklyn if all parties involved were happy to do it. The numbers speak for themselves. Highest gross in Summerslam history, NXT tickets selling out the Barclays Center and giving the brand their highest ever attendance. It was obviously best for all involved and (ahem) best for business.

Prior to this year, Los Angeles was the host to SummerSlam from 2009 to 2014. Apparently, WWE doesn’t want to bring the summer spectacular there, which sucks for the fans out west.

My worry, especially on the NXT side of things, is that they caught lightening in a bottle once. The atmosphere, the roster, the card that special night in Brooklyn? Can WWE do it again? Will HHH make the Takeover Brooklyn shows the brand’s “Wrestlemania”? I only say that as on the actual Wrestlemania weekend, the Saturday night is always the Hall of Fame induction ceremony so a Takeover event would be on a Friday, which may not be as appealing. Also, with the impending call-ups to the main roster of Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bayley etc, will NXT have the strength in depth roster to draw the fans back again? I certainly think so. Just over 11 months until they grace Brooklyn again, plenty of time to push the existing talent already there and maybe grab a few more indy stars along the way.

In closing, I think that holding the entire Summerslam weekend in Brooklyn again is a great idea. We fans all came away from each show with a certain memory. Whether it was the fantastic Sasha Banks v Bayley match on NXT, the sit up laughing spot from Undertaker v Lesnar or the New Day’s over exuberant post match celebration from Summerslam, or the dramatic return of the Dudleyz on Raw. We all remember how great that weekend was. Imagine, just for a minute, how good Summerslam 2016 weekend is going to be……