Why does the WWE only do shows at Staples Center when they’re in Los Angeles?

I can explain this. I’ll start with LA first:

1991’s WrestleMania VII was originally going to be held at the 95,000-seat LA Memorial Coliseum. Advanced ticket sales, which were made available a full one-year prior to the PPV, were so disappointing that the WWF, in a very poor attempt to save face, announced that due to possible terrorist strikes against the WWF Champion and Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter, as well as to the city of Los Angeles (classy), they should move the event next door to the much smaller and in-door 16,000-seat LA Memorial Sports Arena. Vince never again tried for the WWE at the Coliseum, maybe because deep inside he knows the WWE can’t sell the place out. In a sad twist of irony, Vince did book the legendary venue in 2001… as the home-game base of XFL team the Los Angeles Xtreme.

Then there’s the Rose Bowl:

They all hate Vince McMahon. Who? Why the Rose Bowl/Tournament of Roses Committee, that’s who. They hate that he’s a man who made himself a living off of something as “barbaric as ‘rasslin.” They hate the WWE. They’ve talked to Vince many times about having WrestleMania and SummerSlam at the Rose Bowl, and they told him every time to take a hike. (Note that this was all during the late 1990’s Attitude era).

How do I know this? My lovely mother called some of the Rose Parade/Rose Bowl people and ask them about it (she’s known these people for thirty years). From what they can remember, they acknowledged Vince as a real shrew bastard. How shocking.

Currently, the WWE has a strong relationship with Staples Center and the city of LA. We love ‘em and they really loves us. Yes, bridges were again burned with the Coliseum and the failure of the XFL, but those can be repaired in time. Forget about the Rose Bowl, ain’t gonna happen.