Dave LaGreca on All In’s Success: ‘It’s a Great Time to Be a Wrestling Fan’

– Busted Open Radio’s Dave LaGreca spoke with WrestleZone at Starrcast for an interview about the impact of All In and more. Highlights are below, per WZ’s Bill Pritchard:

On what All In means for the industry: “This is something that honestly, to me, feels like the ‘80s; it’s like the territories all over again. You have other federations that are healthy, and the whole business in general is very healthy. I’m really excited about this weekend, and I don’t think we’ve experienced anything like this in probably 20-25 years. For a lot of younger fans, they’re experiencing this for the first time. An event at this caliber that’s not connected with the WWE, and even just coming here and seeing the t-shirts; you’re not seeing [John] Cena, you’re not seeing Roman Reigns. ODB has her food truck right outside the hotel. This is pretty awesome. This is no disrespect to WWE, but that’s pro wrestling. What were experiencing right now is wrestling. I’m really excited about this.”

On the show selling out a 10,000 seat stadium: “I’ll say this; I remember seeing Metallica at L’Amour in Brooklyn. It was a big deal when they became an opening band for Ozzy [Osbourne]. It was like oh my God! Our band is opening for a big mainstream group like Ozzy Osbourne, and the next thing you know, they’re the biggest band on the face of the Earth. I’m not saying this is going to happen here, but why not? How do you know? If I would have told you two years ago that the NWA title was going to be defended in front of 10,000 fans in a sold out arena, you would’ve said I was crazy, but here we are. Cody Rhodes—a Rhodes—has a chance to win the NWA title. The NWA title two years ago was probably being defended in front of 50 people. So who knows what could happen and what this could start and what’s the next. You talk about [New York / New Jersey hosting Wrestlemania 35 next year], Ring Of Honor and New Japan sold out Madison Square Garden in April.”

On ROH and New Japan’s selling out G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden: “First of all, I never thought it would happen. Mark Henry and I were on Chris Jericho’s podcast, and it dropped just before the news broke. We’re talking about how this is never going to happen. Vince McMahon is never going to let this happen. This is WWE’s flagship arena. Not only did [ROH and New Japan] get Madison Square Garden, they sold it out. I honestly thought they’d get 7,000 fans, 8,000 fans. Think about it—Ring Of Honor at Wrestlemania 33 had 6,000 fans [for Supercard of Honor], and now they’re going to be wrestling in front of 18,000 fans. This is incredible. It tells you how healthy the business is all around. It’s a great time to be a wrestling fan.”