Rumble Wrestling in Welling - Hosted by Elliotts Bouncy Castle Hire
We've just got back from what can only be described as one of the best wrestling shows we've ever seen - And we've been to plenty.
We're a big wrestling fan family, all of us enjoy the shows - Go see them at the O2, Wembley and local shows by lesser-known wrestlers too. It's great fun, a place where you can let yourself go, join in the chanting and feel the energy of the room. There's something special about it and just like many families try to see the pantomime once a year around Christmas, we're always on the hunt for a good wrestling show.
Going to the O2 is fun, but it's also expensive and a long journey. There's lots of people and unless you've got lucky or paid a lot of money, the seats are often too far away to see any of the real action. You get the hype of the wrestler making their entrance, but end up with obstructed views and a hefty bill when the kids want a hot-dog or a drink.
Local community wrestling shows often leave you feeling a little under-whelmed. You never know if it's going to be a slap-stick amateur comedy or whether it will deliver.
The last big show we went to at Wembley promised ot be fantastic. We stayed glued to our computer to be the first to book tickets and managed to get the third row - Not quite ring-side, but it was something to look forward to. We was waiting for weeks in anticipation and finally the day arrived, we took two trains, spent a fortune at the concession counter and enjoyed the Rick Flair "woos" in the queues. Sadly though, the two front rows were taken up by all adults that stood the entire time and by the time it ended it all felt very flat. The atmosphere wasn't as good as we had hoped and we didn't look forward to the massive swarm of people heading back to the train station so late at night, especially with two tired children.
It was on the train home that we decided we would do better. We would give our own children the experience we was hoping for but never quite got. Why not? We had our own experience in hosting events, a ticket platform, we had our own concession stand equipment and vendor in place, we knew the industry very well and we had regular customers of the age that we felt would also like a local show!
All we needed was the product, the show itself. We attend independant shows regulary and knew of a few, but we'd heard of one recently that we had never seen before and decided to book tickets to their next show - Worst case scenario it would be a good family evening out, but best case scenario, if they was what we was looking for then we could approach them to book the entire event ourselves at our own venue.
The evening came and the night was one to remember. Despite them performing in a small community hall with low ceilings, small capacity and even smaller crowd they gave it their best. They wasn't a comedy act at all, they were aspiring wrestlers telling a story for a promotion that aspired to grow and be taken seriously. The concession stand left a little to be desired, but they was a wrestling company first and all else second... We could see opportunity and potential.
The wrestlers where athletic, engaging, got the small crowd going and put on a show as if they was performing for a crowd of thousands. It was so exicitng and one of the best we had ever seen. We knew that we had to work with them.
After the show we spoke to the organiser. We guess they get this a lot - People often want to feel part of it or connected somehow, even if they tell a white-lie just to rub shoulders and peel the curtain back a little. The organiser was gracious, but ultimately they was busy packing away and the timing wasn't great - But we did get their number.
After getting in touch with them a few days later we told them about ourselves and proposed that we book their entire show, gave them a date, told them about the venue and come to terms. We agreed that they could sell their own merchandise and we wouldn't interfere, but we would sell the tickets and we would provide the concession stand. This made a lot of sense - The venue is bigger, taller and better than most locations they've performed at (almost designed for this type of event), we believed that we could fill the venue and get people in seats more than their other shows (leveraging our existing reputaation) and provide quality concession using our own equipment, staff and vendor.
The promotion was skeptical all the way up until the big day. They kept asking us how ticket sales had gone; After-all, they wanted to know if it was worth selling merchandise and the bigger the crowd the better the audience and the show! We had the distinct feeling they felt it was be similar to a private kids party booking and wasn't convinced we could draw the numbers. When we put out the chairs they kept asking if it was too many, because empty seats wasn't a good look.
Fortunately we was good to our word and we filled the venue (without making it uncomfortable with over-crowding) and when person after person walked through the door they was getting excited themselves. They kept asking how many more people would come and if that was everyone now. At the half way mark you could see they was starting to realise it was going to be a great crowd and by the time the last person walked through the door their fears where more than put to rest; This was going to be a good one!
People started taking their seats, using the concession stand (which was full with candy-floss, pop-corn, slush, tes and coffee, hot-dogs, crisps and more!) and getting ready for what was to be one of the greatest wrestling shows we've ever seen.
The wrestlers fed off the big crowd and worked harder for them, children where standing on seats, chanting the whole time and screaming for their favourites while booing the bad guys. There was top rope action, high-flying spots and fast paced action. The bad guys cheated, the good guys where wholesome and at the very end of the show there was an 8-man over the top rope rumble match that had the crowd on the edge of their seats, erupting at the finish when the good guys won. The roof was nearly blown off with the cheers and children where standing on their seats clapping!
The atmosphere was incredible throughout the entire show, with children turning up in fancy dress, wrestling t-shirts and caps and then even got to meet the wrestlers after the show, shaking hands and taking photos. All through the show the children kept running up to the wrestlers to touch their hand, get a high-five and by the end of the night they was talking about them as if they had been their favourite wrestler from the television for years.
Some parents attended with low expectations - It was low cost and local "something to do", the kids might like it and take a chance. By the end of it the parents where chanting and jumping as much as the children. Seeing your child react and enjoy it is infectious and everyone went home talking about it. The tickets where a fraction of the price of big wrestling named shows in London and you didn't to contend with the huge crowds of thousands making their way to the event or coming home - Just catch the bus, take a walk or drive. No late nights with the travelling, just local fun or your doorstep that delivered.
We also fullfilled our objective by making sure our own children had front-rwo seats (there has to be some perks to the job) who absolutely loved the event and enjoyed watching the wrestlers with their friends. They finally got to experience what we had wanted for them to feel and be a part of.
The feedback we received was fantastic, people waited until after the show to hang around and tell us how good it had been and thank us, asking when the next one would be and if we would do another!The wrestling promotion themselves thanked us for hosting and before it had even finished was keen to get it booked in again! Take a look at the photos below!
Will we be hosting another one? Watch this space!
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