Wrestlemania's during Attitude Era not in Stadiums

I always assumed Vince saw it as too much of a risk at a time where he was being careful in his war with Eric and Ted
Its funny though as he did the Rumble in the Alamodome and did better than many thought he would so maybe there was another reason.

Wrestlemania 17 felt prestigious when it happened.
Compared to 15 and 2000 which felt rough and ready.
I prefer the attitude era in general, but Wrestlemania should feel like a huge event (which it does now)

Well 2000 was hot. 2001 started off good, but went downhill after they botched WWF vs WCW. Since then they haven't been that hot and there has been no boom period since. Little by little ratings have gone down. The one constant they have that is hot is the name wrestlemania. Name itself draws. It should always be in stadiums unless business tanks.

They announced WrestleMania being at the Silverdome two months before the show and it sold out, but I wasn't alive yet and don't remember how popular WWE was at the time, but Hogan vs Andre alone sold that event out.

As good as the attitude era was, WrestleMania wasn't during that time, 14 was ok while 15 and 2000 each were crap with only one good match. I still think they could have sold out stadiums during that time, but it was too high risk with how much Vince was losing. 17 was the GWOAT and sold out the Astrodome and I couldn't imagine it taking place in an arena.

I've always thought that being in a stadium makes WrestleMania special, and let's face it, WrestleMania sells on the name alone because I doubt people are rushing to buy tickets to see Lesnar/Reigns 2.

I'm guessing it was a safe choice and finance decision rather than anything else. You don't want to invest too heavily in a single PPV when you're still in the midst of a ratings war/rocky finances and also the embarrassment of not selling out a venue would have been detrimental to WWF's image as a brand.

Possibly from the fear of not being able to fill it and having to paper the arena. Wrestlemania III was in a large dome but they went small for 4 & 5...However they went large again for 6. 7 was suppose to be in the LA Coliseum but ticket sales were trash....Even though they went to the Hoosier Dome the very next year I think WM7 put Vince off to large stadiums for awhile. Especially since WM8 was suppose to be Hogan-Flair there really wasnt a main event at Mania that could fill an arena until WM17.

I dont think it was papered...I think the confusion was with the amount of construction & travel problems Indy had it took forever for fans to get into the building. They were literally still filing in after the first match. Many thought it was papered and they were just pulling fans in from outside.