NXT To Start Touring

[The Brain]

According to the main page NXT is about to hit the road and start touring the country. I am not a regular NXT viewer. I watched their two specials over the last two months but that's about it. While I'm not entirely familiar with the product the thing that stood out to me was the small venue and loud and passionate fans. It very much reminded me of ECW and the Bingo Hall. ECW didn't always put on a good show but the fans made everything feel special. I don't know if NXT fans do that on a weekly basis but they've done it for the two recent specials.

Seeing as how NXT is always in the same venue I think it's safe to say a lot of the same fans are always in attendance. They obviously care about the product and bring a unique element to the show. If NXT travels outside its safe zone it might become exposed as being not so special. It's easy to get wrapped up in a show when the live audience is so vocal. That's why the Raw after mania has become a special show. It's always the same crowd that goes to mania. When Raw goes to the next town the next week it's back to the normal crowd. NXT has their home crowd every week but if they leave their home each week could be just another ordinary crowd. What if you could block out the crowd noise and just watch the wrestling? Would NXT be as popular? My concern is NXT leaves its home and other fans around the country aren't as passionate about the product. It could kill some of the momentum the show has built.

Despite this post I'm not against NXT touring. You always have to try to move forward. Taking chances is what made WWE the global product it has become. I hope it works out for the best. All I'm saying is the NXT fans around here might be in for a disappointment if they see fans in other markets don't care as much and NXT becomes exposed as a small regional promotion.

 

[three count bout]

Tickets went on sale for the Cleveland live event yesterday at 10 am. I was on the ticket hub website at 9:50 and when 10 hit the site crashed immediately. When the site would periodically come back up the first tier and second tier seats were all gone and this was at about 10:20 not to mention the Agoras (the venue) phone line was busy the whole while as well. The same happened with the Columbus live event that went on sale the week before, NXT is wisely holding these shows at smaller venues that will more than likely have similar crowds to the Full Sail Audience.

If you're going to pay to see a NXT show I'd have to imagine you're probably more than a casual fan and will be enthusiastic which is usually contagious at wrestling shows.

BTW the crowds are always very passionate it's not just the 'Specials', the crowds are very vocal during regular NXT episodes. It's a special bunch, sometimes it can be a bit much but it's much better than the indifference you sometimes see from Raw crowds.

Edit: I did get a ticket btw, I'll let you know if Cleveland brought the energy or not.

 

[Navi]

They'll do well here in Toronto with all the Canadians on the roster. People will pay to see Owens, Zayn and Breeze, plus all the others of course.

I can't wait to see if they will come north of the border.

To the poster who is going. Just for my own information how much was the ticket? And how does it compare to the prices for the other Live WWE events?

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Keep the tickets affordble, keep the venues around 1200 at the most, and this is money for sure. NXT is a niche brand focused towards a niche audience, so you need the venues and the prices to reflect as much. Personally, I would heavily regionalize it to larger metro areas that are known to be wrestling hot beds, and be full of the types of fans that would climb over one another for these tickets (THe smaller venue at Temple University in Philly would be the option for were I live, and I think it would sell out in hours)

My thought was that the actual next evolution of the brand is having their live special shows in venues outside of Full Sail, and it looks like the cleveland show is the first step. From what I gather, the Cleveland show sold around 850 tickets, while the full sail capacity is 450. I think with the success of this and a few months of touring shows, we could see my idea come to life.

 

[three count bout]

They'll do well here in Toronto with all the Canadians on the roster. People will pay to see Owens, Zayn and Breeze, plus all the others of course.

I can't wait to see if they will come north of the border.

To the poster who is going. Just for my own information how much was the ticket? And how does it compare to the prices for the other Live WWE events?

Navi, their were three tiers of tickets: $15, $25 or $30 for the 2nd tier and $50. For comparisons sake I also went to TLC in Cleveland at the Q and had floor seats which were $100 a pop. However the front row ringside seats were like $500 that night.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Dismissing it as "niche" is wrong... but it's right to build it slowly.

NXT is the new WWE brand... it's no longer the "feeder system" it's, its own system...

Why are they going this way? Well WWE has clearly realised it needs a legit, touring alternative and Vince balked at ressurecting WCW to do so... even if we all know it would work big time...

The NXT guys and gals have grabbed the "brass ring" better than the guys on the main roster have, they can't oil change talent as they used to, it'd be too obvious so now they get to go touring as NXT, and guys like Neville who we all assumed were "on the way up" are now very much better off staying put... For all the hype on Owens or Balor's energy it was Neviile who impressed me the most on Rival... he knew the focus wasn't "on him" this time, but they all clearly knew this announcement was coming right after the show... and Adrian Neville is the guy people are gonna pay to see more than once... Balor's paint? You won't get it that often etc... not sure it's gonna be a game changer, but NXT touring is a massive leap for WWE in the sense of admitting their main product isn't cutting the mustard live anymore, regardless of TV.

 

[Navi]

Navi, their were three tiers of tickets: $15, $25 or $30 for the 2nd tier and $50. For comparisons sake I also went to TLC in Cleveland at the Q and had floor seats which were $100 a pop. However the front row ringside seats were like $500 that night.

That's quite reasonable considering I think they will put on a hell of a show. At the last Live house show I was at, we had Zayn and Kidd in a match, and they blew the roof of the place.

I would love to see an NXT show, and can't wait to see how this works out for them. If it works well, I'm sure they'll come to Toronto, we always have sell out crowds for the WWE, and they are always welcome here.

 

[WarroBODFan]

This is great news. I'll hold fire on expecting them to become part of the European tour anytime soon, but one can hope. I've already had the pleasure to see Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville perform in dark matches here in the UK, and I'd pay extra to see the rest of the NXT stars come here to perform as well. I know Charlotte and Sasha Banks have been doing live events with the main roster for a little while now, but I'd personally just love to see an actual NXT show live, just as much as Raw/Smackdown/generic WWE live event.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I read about this earlier in the week. I think the idea is that they'll still play in mostly smaller venues, you won't be seeing NXT in Madison Square Garden anytime soon, in order to help keep the different feel of NXT going. I remember reading reports of a couple of shows NXT recently did in Ohio in a venue that held between 2,000 and 3,000 fans that were sold out, so there's probably a good little market.

When you look at NXT, at least in my eyes, it gives me the impression of an upscale indie promotion. There are strong production values but, all in all, it's got a different aura than the main roster. I think a lot of that has to do with Triple H following a formula that seems to always work: simple, concise & consistent storytelling + making the wrestling & promo segments top priority + actually listening to ideas & recommendations from wrestlers + logical booking = success. NXT isn't about "sports entertainment", though the term is still used by commentators as something I think to make Vince happy. Even the commentators do something that you don't see except for maybe 25% of the time on the main roster: they keep the focus on the talent wrestling the matches & hyping the product while leaving lousy jokes out of the act altogether.

 

[rmp0012002]

I'd kind of like it to stay off the road because with the pay service you always get the crowd you're looking for. Moving from town to town can be hit or miss with the crowd and I heard their last house show lacked many of the stars so that won't go over well with fans when your stars aren't there.

 

[capnwillie]

I think NXT has the potential to do very well with an international touring schedule at some point. Regal, Albert and many of the other NXT staff have a lot of experience in Europe and Japan and the roster has it's fair share of international stars. Now that the network is available in other countries, NXT will probably gain quite a few viewers in those areas. Balor, Neville, Itami and even Owens and Zayn can help to build those fanbases.

I don't imagine that will be the case from the start, but it makes sense that it could eventually happen and be successful. Especially if Triple H and co. continue to sign more international talents.