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| The last Mania in Philly was XV. We're due for another one. |
I'm not going to lie here; I am biased as all get out. However, of those cities, Philadelphia is the clearest choice for the Northeast's next WrestleMania excursion. Sure, Pittsburgh gave the company its first WWE Superstar, Boston has "important" cultural cache, and Washington is our nation's capital. Those are all fine choices for later on down the line. However, there are several reasons why Philly should be next in line.
Firstly, Philadelphia is the East Coast's most important wrestling city (for reference, Chicago is the most important city for wrestling in America, and I'm not sure it's even close). New York may be the country's cultural epicenter and WWE's headquarters, yes. You aren't anyone unless you headline Madison Square Garden. But because of the stranglehold WWE has on that city, it's hard to call it anything but a WWE town.
Philly, however, was the birthplace of ECW, the most important city in the independent circuit from the inception of Ring of Honor up until January of last year when The Arena closed, and the one place in the Northeast where the NWA and WCW were able to scratch and claw for a foothold. I know what some of you might be thinking; why should WWE care about other companies?
Well, they've pretty much purchased every tape library they could purchase from older companies who staked claims in Philly. Like it or not, they are WCW and ECW nowadays. They've treated those legacies with the grace of Hodor trying to run away from White Walkers, but that doesn't mean they can't reverse field. Plus, there exist wrestling fans who really don't learn their lessons and keep coming back when their favorite companies are dangled in front of them.
I'm not saying WWE should go all out and do ECW: THE MANIA, but as we saw last night, Rob van Dam is still a pretty popular dude in Philly. Promote Mania there and have RVD be a pretty big part of it, and maybe the curmudgeons from The Arena might turn out in greater numbers than expected.
They're also grooming a new legion of main event guys who are inexorably linked with promotions that ran in the city. Dean Ambrose, Kassius Ohno, Antonio Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, and most importantly, Daniel goddamn Bryan are all alumni of the various Philadelphia area big hitters (CM Punk is too, but there's no guarantee he's active by the time Mania in Philly rolls around).
If you're going to be putting on a show that appeals to those fans, the ones who come out and spend the most money per wrestling show, you might as well put the show in a place with a high concentration of those fans with an airport that can handle them with plenty of hotels and places to eat. It's pretty much the perfect storm for attracting the most diverse outlook of fans. And hey, if they put on a good show, maybe those fans who only watch once a year, the ones who came out to Mania just because it was in a wrestling mecca near where they lived on the East Coast, will stick around.
Secondly, Philly is right in the middle of the East Coast megalopolis. It's accessible easily from all the other metropolises in addition to having its own giant population with a high percentage of wrestling fans living within. Even if fans can't get tickets to Mania, they will still flock to the city to do things like Fan Axxess, the Hall of Fame, and even the post-Mania RAW, which has become an event for some that exceeds what happens at Mania itself.
Philly has the facilities (ESPECIALLY with Lincoln Financial Field getting upgrades), the proximity, the cultural cache, the wrestling importance, and the rabid fans necessary for Mania to make its next Northeast stop here. I rag on the city and some of its fans a lot, but there's no denying that when on the biggest stages, whether it be for sporting events or for stuff like the Made in America festival, the city planners and industry heads all bring their A-games.
Philly is as much a wrestling town as any other in America outside of Chicago. Now that WWE will run outdoors in April in places above the Sun Belt, there's no reason why they shouldn't come home to one of their most important tour stops throughout their entire history. Again, I may be biased, but that's only because I've seen this city at its best, and I know that if Mania came here, not only would I have a great time going (because that's at the heart of it all, admittedly), but I know it would be smashing for everyone else involved.