Earlier this week, Roman Reigns was advertised for a rare house show appearance for WWE’s upcoming show in Fayetteville, NC. However, it turns out that was an error, and Reigns won’t be in attendance. WWE would thankfully do the right thing and have offered refunds, although showing the draw Roman Reigns is, Dave Meltzer reports in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that over 700 extra tickets were sold after the announcement. Which is quite a substantial number for a relatively small house show at such short notice.
This was a strange story. Reigns was announced by the arena as doing a live house show on 5/20 in Fayetteville, NC. The building promoted it as Reigns’ first time wrestling in the city in more than four years. WWE also took out radio advertising for a few days in the market building the show around Reigns. Then on 5/17, WWE let us know that Reigns won’t be in Fayetteville and that refunds for ticket holders can be made until 7:30 p.m. the day of the show.
Apparently the promotional team got an old set of Reigns dates before they were changed. They had 3,816 tickets out when the announcement was made and 4,521 when they announced he was not on the show, so that’s great movement for a few days for a house show.
Reigns went part-time a year ago and now seldom makes house show appearances; in fact, he even misses PLE events which were agreed upon in his latest contract. The ultimate goal with Reigns is for him to become a Holywood star, so extended breaks need to be expected by fans. Yet, as WWE Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, he still appears semi-regularly, and typically shows with his presence see an increase in ratings and viewership, which the Layettville house show debacle helps illustrate.
