A couple of days ago I saw some interesting numbers on the events running together in groups, on one side you have the WWN Live Experience and on the other you have the Wrestlecon group. They both have a wide variety of great groups. A major difference you will notice is how large a difference the size of the Sugar Mill vs the Pontchatrain Civic Center is. When we look at the numbers a sell out of the Sugar Mill is 428 vs the PCC is somewhere a bit over a thousand. So far we have one sell out and that is the Wrestlecon Supershow at the Sugar Mill with a stacked card.
Now that we know that let’s take a look at the reasons why each organization is selling so little or selling really well.
WrestleCon Shows:
Wildkat:
Pros: They are a very good local organization out of the New Orleans area. They run with some ECW wrestlers, Luke Hawx and a ton of local talent. The card is very solid.
Cons: Lacks a marquee matchup that says to the random fan I must go and see this. For a organization that gets no press this is a very good group to check out if you have time.
Match to watch out for: Main event with J. Spade vs Hardcore Holly vs Billy Gunn vs Stevie Richards. This has their up and coming star in J. Spade working with guys who have all been in the WWE. This really shows their belief in Spade to be working with this kind of talent even if he is not a household name yet.
Overall thoughts: I think there will be a good bit of walkup tickets for this event but will be the lowest attended of the weekend.
CZW:
Pros: This is a revered name in the industry making their second trip to New Orleans with the last being for WrestleMania 30 weekend. They have a marquee matchup that is a first time match in Will Ospreay vs Desmond Xavier who is making himself a name in the industry through Impact.
Cons: This is a very bad down period for CZW, almost no one is talking about them. Their booking is in desperate need of infusion of new ideas, just everything about them other then their champion RSP and Tremont are just absolutely bland. GCW who is now their main rival has taken over as the premiere deathmatch promotion of the northeast.
Match to look for: Will Ospreay vs Desmond Xavier
The Crash:
Pros: This show will be fantastic, based out of Mexico this is their coming out party for the US market. They have a bunch of fantastic matches featuring stars from both countries such as Austin Aries, Pentagon Jr., Fenix, LA Park (aka La Parka), Brian Cage and more. It is a stacked card that should stand out if not for the crowded market that week. If you get a chance to see it in person or VOD you will not be disappointed.
Cons: The only reasons they are not doing so well in ticket sales are that number one the competition from this week is insane, and two that they are a relatively unknown promotion outside of Mexico and hardcore fans in the U.S. They are not syndicated right now in the U.S. and not very well in Mexico so that hurts them a lot in trying to expand.
Match to watch for: All of them.
House of Hardcore:
Pros: They are a very solid promotion out of the northeast based out of Philly at the 2300 Arena. They are run by Tommy Dreamer and have a ECW feel more then any of the other promotions to come out of their shadow. They have most of their regulars from their shows such as Austin Aries, Sami Callihan, Tommy Dreamer, Nick Aldis, and Luchasaurus along with a bunch of special guests brought in for WrestleMania week. No matches have been announced so far but like previous cards they have run this should be a fun show. The semis and finals will be going on at the show making it a huge hook potentially giving people a reason to buy more advanced tickets.
Cons: At this time sadly this show is up against a lot of competition. It is a great company that has solid matchups that will sadly go under the radar that week. Maybe with this new announcement of matches there will be an uptick.
Match to Watch for: The semis and finals of the TV title tournament.
Rev Pro:
Pros: This company is fantastic and is selling really well. The reason for this is a first time matchup of Jeff Cobb and Minoru Suzuki, I think that if a lot more GA tickets were available this would be selling a lot more. Another hook is that Zack Sabre Jr. is their heavyweight champion who will provide a excellent draw for the day.
Cons: The fact that it is not a well known company stateside due to not really traveling over here outside of Wrestlecon.
Match to Watch for: Minoru Suzuki vs Jeff Cobb
Pro Wrestling Revolver:
Pros: This is going to be one of the best shows of the weekend by far with Wrestling Revolver, AAW out of Chicago, and Fight Club: Pro out of England teaming up to create this supershow that rivals the card of Wrestlecon Supershow will surely have. It features Jack Evans and Teddy Hart teaming together, Lucha Bros., Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan, Besties in the World, Eddie Kingston, Juice Robinson and so many more.
Cons: There are none.
Match to Watch for: Lucha Bros. vs Teddy Hart and Jack Evans
Impact Wrestling vs Lucha Underground:
Pros: This has a stacked lineup that will only get bigger as we get closer to the show happening. This has all the stars of Impact plus the stars of Lucha Underground some of who overlap with Impact. This is going to be fantastic.
Cons: People still harbor ill will towards Impact for all the bad decisions in the past made by management. This is going to be one of the best cards of the weekend and its not even close.
Match to Watch For: Eddie Edwards vs Jeremiah Crane AKA Sami Callihan
Wrestlecon Supershow:
Pros: This has all the non WWN stars for the weekend on the third biggest stacked card of the weekend this will be a fantastic event. It is already sold out at max capacity and should be available the day after the event is taped on Thursday. My only gripe is this is not airing live haha.
Cons: None.
Match to Watch For: Joey Ryan’s Andy Kaufman Challenge
Final Thoughts on the Wrestlecon Shows: The bigger shows are selling great but some of the smaller ones have the smallest crowds by far of the weekend. It is sad because some of these smaller shows have great cards to deal with with all the competition out there in WWE Axxess and the WWN shows.
Wrestlecon Shows Reserved Tickets Updates:
Same story as before, Impact & Revolver are doing very well, CZW, Wildkat, The Crash, & HOH are still where they are, higher ticket prices have helped them pic.twitter.com/OEZRoVS8fk
— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) March 26, 2018
WWN Live Experience:
Beyond Wrestling’s Lit Up:
Pros: This show has a unique hook to it in the fact that it is the only show of the weekend to feature all intergender matches. It also has a various mix of all the Beyond regulars plus Kimber Lee’s return match from her WWE release a while ago. It features wrestling stars such as Havok, Jimmy Havoc, Chris Dickinson, Joey Janela, Deonna Purrazzo, Matt Riddle, Mia Yim, Tessa Blanchard, LAX, Toni Storm and much more talent on the card. This should be a fantastic show.
Cons: This is a very polarizing card that some won’t like plus is at midnight on Thursday evening so not everyone will be there just yet. It has the lowest presale tickets of the WWN shows so far. Hopefully with the strong lineup there will be an increase in sales leading up to the show.
Match to Watch For: Kimber Lee vs Tracy Williams
Shimmer 100:
Pros: This is going to be a fantastic event this is the 100th show of Shimmer, celebrating a anniversary few truly independent shows achieve. This will feature the best women in the world from the United States to Japan, such as Toni Storm, Mia Yim, and Deonna Purazzo.
Cons: It features stiff competition from the other shows at this time, plus the fact that a lot of these names may not be as familiar to the casual viewer who are going to New Orleans that weekend may be why its not selling as well as it should.
Match to Watch For: Nicole Savoy vs Mercedes Martinez
Evolve 102 and Evolve 103:
Pros: These are always very consistent cards with the top talent of WWN in both of these shows. Plus it has a bunch of stars coming from Big Japan Pro Wrestling to wrestle the top stars of WWN Live.
Cons: The stars of Evolve do not have the oomph like the other competitors they are up against sadly these days and times they are running.
Match to Watch For: Matt Riddle vs Daisuke Sekimoto (Evolve 103), Zack Sabre Jr. vs Matt Riddle (Evolve 102).
GCW Bloodsport:
Pros: This has the most unique card, with the stipulation that all the matches must be finished by K.O. or Submission like MMA rules. It has a card full of stars from the northeast and the ones flying in for the week. To give it a great feel it has some either current or former legitimate MMA stars such as Matt Riddle, Dan Severn, and Tom Lawlor. It also features some very tough wrestlers such as Low Ki, WALTER, Nick Gage and Masada. This will be one of my cards to watch this week when I get the chance.
Cons: This will be the first show of WrestleMania week plus some fans may not want to see a all MMA inspired card. There is no reason fans should not check this card out.
Update #1: For reasons undisclosed at this time Low Ki is out of the main event of this show and has been replaced by Minoru Suzuki.. wow. I am marking out for this this is a dream match I never knew I wanted.
Match to Watch For: Matt Riddle vs Minoru Suzuki
WWN Mercury Rising (Supershow):
Pros: This will be one of the best cards of the weekend by far, it features all of the WWN stars competing against some bigger stars brought in for the weekend and some big matchups they have been saving for this weekend. In addition the big hook every WM weekend for years now there has been a six man tag to make new stars that has made everyone watch since ROH started it the first time they ran WrestleMania weekend.
Cons: This will be going up against the Hall of Fame ceremony and Impact vs Lucha Underground show so this probably will not sell out which is sad but not surprising. It also doesn’t have the big names to make the card pop out to random viewers.
Match to Watch For: Keith Lee vs Daisuke Sekimoto
Progress 66 and 67:
Pros: This is one of the most popular promotions in the world and has almost sold out the Ponchatrain Civic Center with both of their shows without having a lot of their card released. This is going to be one of the best couple of cards like last year of the weekend. Check these out.
Cons: None
Match to Watch For: Thunderb*stard match
Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2:
Pros: This will be by far the craziest show of the week, plus it has almost sold out completely the Civic center outselling the other shows WWN is running this week, which is surprising out of all the shows they run. You have the dream match you did not know you wanted in Janela vs Great Sasuke and then you have a weirdly appealing match in WALTER vs PCO which I can’t wait to see.
Cons: none.
Match to Watch For: Joey Janela vs Great Sasuke
Final Thoughts: This is going to be one of the craziest weekend of shows ever assembled, if you are a fan of wrestling you need to support the companies that are running this weekend. Please check out all the shows that appeal to you.
This will be my last WWN Live Experience Ticket update:
Progress Friday sold out Row 6
WWN Supershow sold out Row 4
Spring Break sold out Rows 6 & 7Hope these shows, Wrestlecon shows, and other independent shows find great audiences this weekend pic.twitter.com/q3db0PaZUi
— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) April 3, 2018
