WWE Gives Out Letter Grades To The Cities They Visit; Guess Which Towns Scored The Worst

In a lawsuit filed by the WWE to stop vendors from selling unlicensed merchandise during WrestleMania 31 a whole bunch of very interesting information has now come to light.

First, the entire WWE schedule for the next 13 months was included in the suit, complete with a breakdown of NXT specials and future pay per view locations.

There is also a complete listing of attendance statistics for each event WWE has held at a location dating back to 2011 that shows the building’s capacity versus the actual number of people who were in attendance at the show.

However, the juiciest part of the reveal is the fact that WWE actually uses letter grades to rank the various venues in which they perform.

Chris Harrington of Indeed Wrestling gathered all the data from the lawsuit and here’s what he found.

Letter Grades
Starting 6/28/15, WWE also assigns letter codes to each city (A/B+/B/C).
It appears it’s an indication of the relative overall drawing power of the city based on the last visit.
(If we assume that the percentage is in relation to the overall building’s capacity.)

A: 70 examples (minimum: 3,500; maximum 15,913) – average: 9,235
B+: 32 examples (minimum: 3,122; maximum 14,481) – average: 7,608
B: 48 examples (minimum: 2,626; maximum 12,717) – average: 6,496
C: 61 examples (minimum: 2,230; maximum 6,996) – average 4,546
Overall Average: 7,002

“A” Cities: Anaheim, CA, Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Bridgeport, CT, Brooklyn, NY, Buffalo, NY, Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH, Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT, Hildalgo, TX, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, Kansas City, MO, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, Minneapolis, MN, Nashville, TN, New York, NY, Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, Portland, OR, Providence, RI, San Antonio, TX, San Jose, CA – SAP Center, St. Louis, MO, Tampa, FL, Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON – Ricoh Coliseum, Washington, DC, White Plains, NY, Wildwood, NJ

“B+” Cities: Albany, NY, Anaheim, CA, Anchorage, AK, Bangor, ME, Birmingham, AL, Bridgeport, CT, Calgary, AB, Cincinnati, OH, Corpus Christi, TX, Daytona Beach, FL – Ocean Center, Des Moines, IA, East Lansing, MI, Edmonton, AB, Fairbanks, AK, Fort Myers, FL, Fresno, CA, Greenville, SC, Hampton, VA, Hershey, PA, Jonesboro, AR, Lafayette, LA, Laredo, TX, Lincoln, NE, Little Rock, AR, Loveland, CO, Memphis, TN, Milwaukee, WI, Montreal, QC, Nashville, TN, Ontario, CA, Orlando, FL – Amway Center, Roanoke, VA, Rochester, NY, Sacramento, CA, Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center, San Juan, PR, Stockton, CA, Syracuse, NY, Tampa, FL, Tulsa, OK, Uncasville, CT, Wilkes Barre, PA, Winnipeg, MB

“B” Cities: Austin, TX, Bakersfield, CA, Calgary, AB, Cleveland, OH, Dayton, OH, Edmonton, AB, Everett, WA, Fresno, CA, Hartford, CT, Indianapolis, IN, Knoxville, TN, Louisville, KY – YUM Center, Milwaukee, WI, Montreal, QC, New Orleans, LA, Oklahoma City, OK, Omaha, NE, Phoenix, AZ, Portland, OR, Rochester, NY, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, San Jose, CA – SAP Center, Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, Trenton, NJ, Tulsa, OK, Winnipeg, MB

“C” Cities: Amarillo, TX, Augusta, GA, Bakersfield, CA, Baton Rouge, LA, Beaumont, TX, Binghamton, NY, Bloomington, IL, Bossier City, LA, Bowling Green, KY, Canton, OH, Casper, WY, Cedar Rapids, IA, Charlotte, NC, Charlottesville, VA, Chattanooga, TN, Colorado Springs, CO, Columbia, SC, Columbus, GA, Daytona Beach, FL – Ocean Center, Erie, PA, Evansville, IN, Fairfax, VA, Fargo, ND, Fayetteville, NC, Fort Myers, FL, Green Bay, WI, Huntsville, AL, Jackson ,TN, Jacksonville, FL, Johnson City, TN, Jonesboro, AR, Kalamazoo, MI, Laredo, TX, Macon, GA, Mobile, AL, Montreal, QC, North Charleston, SC, Odessa, TX, Peoria, IL, Rockford, IL, Salisbury, MD, Savannah, GA, Sioux City, IA, Sioux Falls, SD, Springfield, IL, Syracuse, NY, Tallahassee, FL, Toledo, OH, Tupelo, MS, Vancouver, BC, Victoria, BC, Waco,TX, Wilkes Barre, PA, Worcester, MA

(Same city may appear in more than category. This is because different letter grades are assigned on different trips – often because one time it’s a TV taping and another time it’s a house show.)

Two things jump out at me here. One, they felt the need to add a middle category between “A” and “B.” It’s like that way they could avoid having to give any city a “D” grade. (Sorry, “C” cities, you’re still a “D.”)

And two, the overall average was just 7,002. I would have thought, based on what we see on TV each week, that attendance would have been higher. But according to the listing of attendance figures versus venue capacity, most events are nowhere near filled with fans and in many cases the arenas aren’t even half-full.

To view the schedule in an easy to read format and see how attendance figures compared to venue size, please do go check out Indeed Wrestling. It’s fascinating stuff.

H/T With Spandex