After a week of preparation — the longest and most intense ever for an Optus Stadium event — the stage is set for a history-making WWE Elimination Chamber in front of more than 40,000 rabid wrestling fans.
The spectacle, featuring the world’s biggest wrestling superstars including Logan Paul, Seth Rollins and Australia’s own Rhea Ripley, will be broadcast live to a global audience of more than one billion.
As championship belts and custom t-shirts flew off shelves at a pop-up merchandise superstore in the heart of the CBD and thousands of fans gathered on the Burswood Peninsula for a glimpse of their heroes on Friday, Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti declared WWE had “officially taken over the city”.
Behind the scenes, Optus Stadium has been a hive of activity as WWE technicians work feverishly to pull together the sport’s first Australian event in five years — and first-ever pay-per-view show in Perth.
Stadium boss Mike McKenna said bump-in for the Elimination Chamber had taken a full week — three days longer than Ed Sheeran’s record-shattering 2023 concert.
Unlike Sheeran’s show — which was part of a world tour — every WWE event is entirely bespoke, with storylines that shift right up to the last minute.
Because of that, Mr McKenna said there was no set end time for Saturday’s blockbuster — forcing Transperth to plan for fans exiting en masse anywhere in a 30-minute window.
“This is also a made-for-TV event and, without giving too much away, there are three separate staging components around the ground,” he said.
“WWE also bring their own sound and lighting effects, and it is a huge amount of lighting, more so than even a concert.”
Mr McKenna — who oversaw planning for Perth’s landmark 2021 AFL grand final — said WWE was comparable in its complexity because of the large number of unknowns.
Apart from the unique stadium configuration — which requires customised signage and additional staff to guide fans to their seats — Mr McKenna, there was an element of guesswork involved in preparing food and beverage offerings.
“We know that for a footy game, the crowd is going to drink on average half a litre of beer per person and that most of the food is going to be ordered before bouncedown,” he said.
“For a concert, the food consumption is quite different but we can usually ring ahead to other venues and get some intel. With WWE, no one really knows.”
Making the process easier has been Mr McKenna’s interactions with WWE personnel — including wrestlers — who he described as “almost exactly the opposite from a diva”.
“They know their role in promoting their sport, they have done every media request they’ve gotten and just speaking to our team, they’ve said they’re not only polite but just friendly and decent people,” he said.
While some of Optus Stadium’s 60,000 seats have been blocked out because of obstructed sight lines, Mr McKenna said the show was not yet a sell-out and more seats were being made available based on demand.
“You can still get a seat in the stands for $60, on the floor for $150 and ringside is around $3600 — so there is a full range of prices and all of the options are available,” he said.
Ms Saffioti confirmed 40,000 tickets had been snapped up to date — with 14,000 of those going to visitors from overseas and interstate.
With images of WA set to be beamed into households in 165 countries and wrestlers with millions of followers talking up Perth on their socials, Ms Saffioti said bringing WWE to Perth offered “a very strong return on investment”.
“It is an incredible event and what we’ve seen (has) surprised me with just the level of excitement from the fans — I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that, the complete passion that people have for this event,” she said.
Perth is set to deliver a record Elimination Chamber crowd for the WWE, with the current high-mark set at 33,000 for the 2022 edition in Saudia Arabia.