WWE’s summer spectacular will return to Big Apple.
The Superstars and Divas of WWE will be back at Barclays Center for SummerSlam for the next two summers as the sports-entertainment giant agreed to a deal with Barclays Center and NYC & Company to bring the showcase and its surrounding events to the Brooklyn arena in August of 2016 and 2017, the Daily News has learned.
Barclays Center will again host SummerSlam, Monday Night Raw and NXT on three consecutive nights each of the next two years. All three events last month, beginning with NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on August 22, followed by SummerSlam and Raw, were all sold out, marking the first time WWE has ever sold out the same arena for three consecutive nights.
“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,” John P. Saboor, WWE’s executive vice president of special events, told the Daily News. “It’s the world’s greatest city and set of partners to incubate the incremental growth of this as our second-largest celebration.”
Next year’s SummerSlam will take place on Sunday August 21, one day after NXT and a day before Raw. In 2017, SummerSlam will be on Sunday August 20 again sandwiched between NXT and Raw. Ticket information for next year’s SummerSlam will be announced in the near future.
SummerSlam will take place at Barclays Center at least three years in a row after spending six straight years at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The very first SummerSlam was held in 1988 at Madison Square Garden, which also hosted the event in 1991 and 1998. Nassau Coliseum hosted it in 2002 and the Izod Center — which was the original site for this year’s SummerSlam before the arena closed its doors — hosted it in 1989, 1997 and 2007.
Last month, 15,702 fans attended SummerSlam, giving WWE a gate of more than $1.3 million, the highest domestic gross in SummerSlam history. It was hosted by former The Daily Show star Jon Stewart, who got his hands dirty by
attacking John Cena with a chair, costing the United States champion his title in a match against Seth Rollins. The Undertaker got his revenge against Brock Lesnar, winning in controversial fashion, after Lesnar ended Undertaker’s iconic undefeated WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania XXX.
The previous night, 15,589 fans flocked to see NXT, WWE’s increasingly popular developmental product, which far exceeded NXT’s previous attendance record of 5,200 at a San Jose event in March during WrestleMania week.
“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,” Keith Sheldon, Barclays Center vice president of booking, told The News. “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.”
WWE's talent was involved in several community outreach events in the week leading up to SummerSlam weekend, which included hospital visits, a reading celebration for young students, an anti-bullying rally, a veteran employment event and Cena granting his 500th wish for Make-a-Wish. WWE also partnered with Charity Buzz to raise more than $200,000 for Answer the Call, the New York Police and Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund.
Definitely gonna go to the one in 2017. Wish I could go next year but my financial situation is 
right now.
I'll have to see some serious improvement to the product before I consider going to Summerslam.
I want John Cena to call me with tickets to Superslam
