Bad Planning Could Have Caused Tragedy

More reports have started to filter out about the bad crowd planning at the AT&T stadium yesterday in Dallas. As seen with high profile tragedies in the past such as the 2010 Love Parade in Germany, when you have large numbers of people trying to get in to one place, one logistical mistake can be fatal. At WrestleMania at least three people collapsed including a child, while others were dehydrated and claustrophobic.

I'm standing in the 300s just to avoid this madness #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/R5RNagqSW7

— Brandon F (@TheRealClassic) April 3, 2016

A culmination of issues caused long, delayed and dangerous queuing. Firstly the doors were opened later than expected, then there was a failure with ticket scanning causing more delays. Another issue was excessive security procedures and ticket checking itself.

Line outside the stadium. #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/pvBUdIgjkr

— PWM (@ProWrestlingMag) April 3, 2016

Reddit user The Boss explains one particularly scary situation for stadium section 229:

They wanted to give out wristbands after another ticket check through another vinyl rope-line further into the corridor. We were wall to wall as far as the eye could see on multiple levels leading down to the field.

People began to pass out from the surrounding body heat. It took them 10 min. to get a medic to one older gentleman who fainted in front of us. Another girl had a seizure near us as well. Finally, police and staff on the ramp leading into the corridor ordered other AT&T staff to remove the ticket check/wristband vinyl rope-line to let us move through faster. It was so hot and very scary. It was so hard to breathe as people were firmly pressed into each other. We were herded like cattle with what seemed like nowhere to go.

It took those medical emergencies and orders for them to relent on the wristbands, it seems. If the fainting victims had been cardiac cases, they would’ve been dead due to it taking such a long time for paramedics to reach them due to the overcrowding. People could have also been trampled as people were becoming very panicked and angry. Seriously, people could have been killed.
It should not have happened! Whose brilliant idea was it to do another ticket check and hand out wristbands after we got into the stadium? Why couldn’t we just show our tickets? Why did we need a fucking wristband? And, whose brilliant idea was it to funnel everyone through ONE corridor (at section 229) to reach the floor and first tier risers?

More context was given by another user:

One of the biggest ways they failed was not telling people there were tents outside the doors to the stadium handing out floor wristbands. If you didn’t see them on the way in, you wound up in that line. If you got one outside, you could go past the line straight to the floor.

Another user revealed how frustrated people were getting:

I was one of those people. I got to the stadium at 130pm. I didn’t get past the first security checkpoint until 5:15. I had the “riser” seats, which btw rose maybe two or three feet from rows A-K. Lady told me to go to section 228, then I’m told to go to the stairs. Elevators were shut down, they were herding us through one entrance. People were fighting, a very overweight guy with tattoos literally punched a young kid in the head and getting pushed into him. Fights broke out and people got thrown out before they even got into the stadium. It was a compete disaster. The stadium was not equipped with sufficient officials to handle the 93,000 people in attendance. I missed the entire pre show.

The scary thing about crowd crushes is that when the lack of free space per person surpasses a certain point, nobody has the freedom to make independent decisions. The mass of people become a liquid and can only go where the current is taking them. In the past accidents of this kind were often blamed on the people themselves for stampede behaviour or by cherry picking incidents like above, but the point at which something has gone tragically wrong happens long before the immediate danger. It’s more often poor planning and communication than members of the public being careless or violent.

A few more people and/or somebody tripping over and the above scenarios could have easily resulted in deaths from crushing and trampling.

In hindsight WWE’s official statement was very dismissive:

“To ensure the safety of WWE fans, increased security measures were put in place tonight. We apologize that it may have taken some fans longer than usual to get into AT&T Stadium.”

Crowd Noise Turned Down At WrestleMania

Adding to the stubborn failure that Vince McMahon gave fans for the WrestleMania main event, upon re-watching it was quite clear they turned down the crowd noise at various points when fans were booing Roman Reigns. This also resulted in a few moments when the commentators were overly loud.

This kind of debunks the notion that “any reaction is a good reaction” which is often the official excuse for Reigns and John Cena’s negative reactions.

Compare what went down to Vince McMahon’s comments on the Steve Austin podcast last year:

Goldberg Was Never Planned?

One of the rumored surprises at WrestleMania was Goldberg making an appearance. He denied this was ever planned on Twitter:

Never in the cards to show up tonight but I refused to spoil it for everyone by commenting…..thank you all for giving a shit

— Bill Goldberg (@Goldberg) April 4, 2016

Brock Lesnar Feuding With Bray Wyatt

If anything is planned between The Rock and Bray Wyatt it won’t be happening any time soon. Rock is not in Dallas tonight for RAW:

Just landed back back in Georgia (from Texas) a few hrs ago. 2 big cups of unleaded in hand. Let's work. #KickinMondaysAss (we hope;)

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 4, 2016

Meanwhile Paul Heyman suggested to Bleacher Report that Wyatt is next for Brock Lesnar:

There is certainly unfinished business with the Wyatt Family, which will be addressed when Brock Lesnar feels like it, at his whim, at his leisure, and convenience and at his pleasure as well. Obviously, the goal for Brock Lesnar is always to be the reigning, and here’s the key word defending, undisputed WWE heavyweight champion of the world, so whomever comes out of the Triple H versus Roman Reigns match for the title is going to have Brock Lesnar breathing down their neck.