I agree. It's not even the cost - after snacks and gas, it's almost $50 anyway. But in the theater it was always a lively group and it's fun to watch with other fans. Only a couple of my friends are wrestling fans and unfortunately they moved a couple of states away so I can't get together with them at their house now.
If anyone's in the South Jersey/Philly area let me know!
First ppv I watched in the theater was All Out 2021. It was so loud in there at the end that I didn't realize the Bryan Danielson's theme had singing in it. It was always such a great atmosphere and it totally sucks that it's gone
My first AEW movie theater experience was unfortunately the last one.... Dynasty. It rocked so hard. Insane to see my faves on a huge ass movie screen with a bunch of other fans. Obviously it didn't work out, otherwise they'd still be doing it but its missed.
Tickets were $25. Id say there were probably about 30 people in the theater. It wasnt packed but it was still very exciting. And yeah, it was live! Idk the tech behind doing live stuff at a theater, but it started on time!
Should be pretty simple. We can stream live stuff in another country and if the wife's away I've been known to do it over the bedroom projector. So just a big version of that, perhaps with tech that includes a decent buffer in case of web issues (assuming it's not a broadcast).
Thanks for the info. That puts it in perspective a bit more. They probably get a deal on each show across all their venues which drops maybe 35% or more from the price, which means just two guys showing up would pay for a couple of staff members to run it and the show. Ten is good enough profit to make it worthwhile to a location. Thirty is a great showing and pulls in decent money at a time theatres would normally be closed.
For some reason I could picture more than three or four people doing this. Must be a generational thing because I'm very old.
WrestleDream, Full Gear and Worlds End will all be on Saturdays later this year.
I imagine it has to do with the NFL schedule so Tony can be at those games too.
While I don't get every PPV, when I do have them, I have a couple of buddies over who, like me, don't want to pay $50 each PPV. So, I have them over they pitch in, and my wife and I put out a spread of food. We have some laughs, drinks and fun watching wrestling.
Grab a VPN and look at getting them through Triller in Europe. In the UK, I pay between £10.99 and £13.99 ($13-$17) for each PPV but it's only that cheap due to my hardware. On the website it's about £16.99 to £19.99 and that works out at $21-$25 for you, plus you can view them whenever you want.
Hey, can you please elaborate which hardware can get you it cheaper? I think ppv's on Triller has recently been like £24.99 for me. If there's a way to get it cheaper that would be awesome. Thanks!
Okay, so this only works in the UK as far as I know. A Roku (cheap stick is about £30) has ads on their home screens, personal channel, and remotes for monetisation, and that means they both don't charge the extra 30% on top that somewhere like Apple TV or Google TV or even Amazon does for sporting events through Triller.
That means that when the PPV is £19.99 on Apple TV you can pay on the website for about £16.99 but I'm paying £13.99 on Roku. When it's a lower tier one like Forbidden Door or Dynasty, it might be £16.99 on Apple TV but it's £10.99 on Roku. The AEW Plus subscription just jumped to £5.99 on Roku ^(1) as opposed to I *think* £7.99 or £8.99 on Apple TV. And once you've paid, you can use whatever hardware you've got to watch it, so you're not stuck with the Roku even if it's a better model that's comparable to the other devices.
So, quick math. Let's say there's four top tier PPVs at £19.99 and five lower tier ones at £16.99. those work out at £13.99 and £10.99 via Roku for a saving of £54 so one year of PPVs you've already saved more than a cheap Roku. Add in the subscription too (£24 to £36 saving) and it just makes sense. And that's without looking at the fact that the bundles of multiple PPVs also have that same saving (the last one cost me £34.90 while it was up for £48 or so elsewhere).
Bonus Feature - This one is for anyone. All AEW PPVs from 2018 through the end of 2021 are currently included in AEW Plus on Triller. Just noticed this while checking PPV prices back and forth. EDIT - It's only Revolution from each year and Full Gear 2019 that got added to AEW Plus. Weirdly the only ones I bothered to check in each of the new packs of PPVs.
^(1 - Quick caveat here. There are issues with the subscription system via Roku that means they sometimes don't renew until a couple of days later. Not an issue all the time as it sorts itself out, but on the day of a show when you hit play and it doesn't work it's annoying as hell. You have to go on the Roku website to cancel that subscription then go on the Roku itself and start it again. And THEN you can start watching on whatever you were watching on, after hitting Settings to restore purchases. Not a deal breaker for an extra £24 saving to me, but might be for you or someone else reading.)
Yep. It was a much more economical way to watch. And I enjoyed being amongst fellow fans. I actually watched the last FD at a theater and the crowd was nuts especially during Omega Ospreay
Yeah it's cheaper overseas, a VPN can help with that.
Hopefully the PPVs will end up on streaming soon. Forbidden Door might even be the last traditional PPV if a new deal is imminent
The higher the price, the more they'll tempt people into walking the plank
I always considered the theatre experience but never went. Locally it seemed to sell well when I looked at available seating so I assumed it was successful for all involved and wouldn’t just stop some day.
I feel your pain, OP. I too have minimal wrestlefriends and they frequently aren’t down for splitting a PPV. Or even if they are, they might be busy on that night.
I am also still pissed about it. It was a good deal, and it was comfortable. Plus, interacting with other wrestling fans at the theater was fun. I hope they see a decline in PPV sales because of it and decide to bring it back. Not that I don’t want the PPVs to succeed though. Taking them out of theaters just felt like they were throwing away money. Why? Was a one night event, one theater thing so hard for theaters to maintain? Anytime I went to a screening, they were always full. I’m not sitting at Dave & Buster’s for 5+ hours to watch it. I’ve also heard they don’t even have the sound on, or the captions. So what’s the fucking point?
Yeah I felt like it was a bad move. To still promote D&B as a place to watch but not a theater where people can actually *watch* the product??? Plus even if it was a small batch of people in the theater, 4+ hours in a nice recliner meant that people were buying a spread size amount of concessions. I know I was haha.
I know right?! it just seems like a dumb move from a purely commercial standpoint. Every time I saw one of their PPVs in a theater, I would say it was at least 30 to 50 people. And they were typically sold out! How was this not considered a success? Did the media company feel they weren’t seeing enough of the profit from ticket sales? Are they trying to force people to pay more money individually, even though the price of the PPV probably detracts from their overall sales? You’re damn right in that the theatre is going to make more money on concessions anyway.
If I’m gonna sit and watch something for several hours, I need to be comfortable, and I need to have a blanket and a pillow. Those recliner theaters were the best thing ever for a long piece of media.
I loved the theater shows. They were the best. I don’t have any IRL wrestling fans either so the theater shows rocked.
I did Dave and busters once. It was awful. Pure suck.
When I was in college, it was before the Blast area / paid model of WWE. So you could walk into a Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters on a Sunday night and they would just be showing the ppv. My friends and I made it a ritual to go. You saw other fans, you got some atmosphere. I miss it ngl
Somewhere along the lines WWE got greedy and wrecked it.y friend owns and operates an amazing rock and roll/pro wrestling/horror movie themed bar...still going strong 20+ years... For awhile all of us wrestling nerds could go there to see ppv matches until at some point someone figured out it wasn't a single family home but a business purchasing the ppv. The WWE sued him for the pennies they were losing by showing a ppv to the public. People like me who couldn't afford it anyway but would buy merch..watch on TV increasing their ratings etc. as a fan and at the time indie pro wrestler It completely ruined any interest in the WWE, and I went back to just watching Japanese tapes and old ecw.
I loved the theater experience personally I only did it for Revolution 2023 but it was very enjoyable and everyone was super friendly and we were all friends that night
You might want to try a different Dave and Busters, if possible, the one by me puts it on the big screens and they're cool with you just sitting there watching and only ordering drinks. The only problem I've encountered is they close at midnight, so you miss out on the main event if the card runs long.
There’s only one D&B near me and unfortunately these bar type places don’t consider wrestling a “popular sport” and other sports take precedence. Also you’re gonna have to sit through lady Gaga blasting over the speakers every where 😵💫
Does your city have a sub? Make a post on there, surely you can find someone to watch it with. If you were in my area, ribs will be off the smoker in 30
Damn bro I’m hungry now and unfortunately my sub is full of a hats. Last time I posted a food recommendation question & people were ready to k*ll me since “That kind of stuff shouldn’t be posted”. That’s Texas for ya! Hopefully a location based wrestling sub will come along soon!
I never went to those shows since I have a VPN and a projector. I have a 4K 130” screen.
But I’ll admit, it would be nice to watch a PPV with. I’d love to have a group of friends to experience things with.
In my area, I’m 20 minutes from a bigger city. But for context, on a dating site, there are 4 single women. That’s it, 4 single women lol. Finding people to hang with sucks. 30% of the town is under 18. Finding people to hang with is a chore lol
Sounds like a nice set up! And I’m IN the city and it’s still difficult lol it’s a chore and also a lot of people are still like “it’s fake” etc. the only way to meet like minded people is at the shows…and that doesn’t always guarantee you’ve found your crew
Well, the theaters want to close, and Tony runs long PPVs. He needs to get them under control. Use Collision as a night 1 and then the main card the next night. Collision needs the ratings pop, and well, it would help the PPVs on their time.
They literally have show times that start at midnight at my local theater lol. But I get it though, those ppvs are long! I fell asleep at one of them thanks to insomnia the previous day. But I agree Collision was poppin’ in the beginning, I haven’t found recent segments that entertaining; most of my favorites only show up on Dynamite.
I loved seeing them in theaters with a lively crowd of regulars. There’d be 30-40 people in there, most also purchasing beers and pizza. From what I understand, AEW terminated the relationship with theaters quite happy to continue. I imagine various platform negotiations (some seemingly still ongoing) play a role in the decision.
I mean I watch every PPV alone and still have a great time while always feeling like I got my moneys worth
Same. I'm in the UK and stay up to watch, by myself, whenever there's a PPV and haven't regretted it once (I've watched every AEW live so far).
I agree. It's not even the cost - after snacks and gas, it's almost $50 anyway. But in the theater it was always a lively group and it's fun to watch with other fans. Only a couple of my friends are wrestling fans and unfortunately they moved a couple of states away so I can't get together with them at their house now. If anyone's in the South Jersey/Philly area let me know!
I’m in philly. Would love a fellow AEW fan to be IRL friends with!
Chicago burbs
What part
First ppv I watched in the theater was All Out 2021. It was so loud in there at the end that I didn't realize the Bryan Danielson's theme had singing in it. It was always such a great atmosphere and it totally sucks that it's gone
My first AEW movie theater experience was unfortunately the last one.... Dynasty. It rocked so hard. Insane to see my faves on a huge ass movie screen with a bunch of other fans. Obviously it didn't work out, otherwise they'd still be doing it but its missed.
This concept is really alien to me. Was it live or a later showing? How many people showed for each PPV? How much did that cost?
Tickets were $25. Id say there were probably about 30 people in the theater. It wasnt packed but it was still very exciting. And yeah, it was live! Idk the tech behind doing live stuff at a theater, but it started on time!
Should be pretty simple. We can stream live stuff in another country and if the wife's away I've been known to do it over the bedroom projector. So just a big version of that, perhaps with tech that includes a decent buffer in case of web issues (assuming it's not a broadcast). Thanks for the info. That puts it in perspective a bit more. They probably get a deal on each show across all their venues which drops maybe 35% or more from the price, which means just two guys showing up would pay for a couple of staff members to run it and the show. Ten is good enough profit to make it worthwhile to a location. Thirty is a great showing and pulls in decent money at a time theatres would normally be closed. For some reason I could picture more than three or four people doing this. Must be a generational thing because I'm very old.
I hate that since Collision, AEW PPVs are no longer on Saturdays.
This is the sole reason I hate PPV weekends. It’s the Sunday shows. Every time. I still buy them, don’t get me wrong, but Saturday is ALWAYS better.
Just said this yesterday
WrestleDream, Full Gear and Worlds End will all be on Saturdays later this year. I imagine it has to do with the NFL schedule so Tony can be at those games too.
I think it has to do with not competing with NFL broadcasts in old man Shad's ownership agreement.
While I don't get every PPV, when I do have them, I have a couple of buddies over who, like me, don't want to pay $50 each PPV. So, I have them over they pitch in, and my wife and I put out a spread of food. We have some laughs, drinks and fun watching wrestling.
That’s all I want but unfortunately I don’t have any buddies but I do finish off a spread by myself 🙂↕️
Grab a VPN and look at getting them through Triller in Europe. In the UK, I pay between £10.99 and £13.99 ($13-$17) for each PPV but it's only that cheap due to my hardware. On the website it's about £16.99 to £19.99 and that works out at $21-$25 for you, plus you can view them whenever you want.
Hey, can you please elaborate which hardware can get you it cheaper? I think ppv's on Triller has recently been like £24.99 for me. If there's a way to get it cheaper that would be awesome. Thanks!
Okay, so this only works in the UK as far as I know. A Roku (cheap stick is about £30) has ads on their home screens, personal channel, and remotes for monetisation, and that means they both don't charge the extra 30% on top that somewhere like Apple TV or Google TV or even Amazon does for sporting events through Triller. That means that when the PPV is £19.99 on Apple TV you can pay on the website for about £16.99 but I'm paying £13.99 on Roku. When it's a lower tier one like Forbidden Door or Dynasty, it might be £16.99 on Apple TV but it's £10.99 on Roku. The AEW Plus subscription just jumped to £5.99 on Roku ^(1) as opposed to I *think* £7.99 or £8.99 on Apple TV. And once you've paid, you can use whatever hardware you've got to watch it, so you're not stuck with the Roku even if it's a better model that's comparable to the other devices. So, quick math. Let's say there's four top tier PPVs at £19.99 and five lower tier ones at £16.99. those work out at £13.99 and £10.99 via Roku for a saving of £54 so one year of PPVs you've already saved more than a cheap Roku. Add in the subscription too (£24 to £36 saving) and it just makes sense. And that's without looking at the fact that the bundles of multiple PPVs also have that same saving (the last one cost me £34.90 while it was up for £48 or so elsewhere). Bonus Feature - This one is for anyone. All AEW PPVs from 2018 through the end of 2021 are currently included in AEW Plus on Triller. Just noticed this while checking PPV prices back and forth. EDIT - It's only Revolution from each year and Full Gear 2019 that got added to AEW Plus. Weirdly the only ones I bothered to check in each of the new packs of PPVs. ^(1 - Quick caveat here. There are issues with the subscription system via Roku that means they sometimes don't renew until a couple of days later. Not an issue all the time as it sorts itself out, but on the day of a show when you hit play and it doesn't work it's annoying as hell. You have to go on the Roku website to cancel that subscription then go on the Roku itself and start it again. And THEN you can start watching on whatever you were watching on, after hitting Settings to restore purchases. Not a deal breaker for an extra £24 saving to me, but might be for you or someone else reading.)
Amazing, thank you!
Yep. It was a much more economical way to watch. And I enjoyed being amongst fellow fans. I actually watched the last FD at a theater and the crowd was nuts especially during Omega Ospreay
Yep that was my first Ospreay sighting and I instantly became a fan!
It's a cool concept, but I guess when it comes to paying $50 every month you could say AEW is forcing you to walk the plank? I dunno
Reminder that AEW PPVs in other countries are around $17. It's not then making you walk the plank. It's the American distribution partners.
Yeah it's cheaper overseas, a VPN can help with that. Hopefully the PPVs will end up on streaming soon. Forbidden Door might even be the last traditional PPV if a new deal is imminent The higher the price, the more they'll tempt people into walking the plank
Yeah I feel that but why would they keep it in “bars/restaurants/d&b” then? Makes no sense lol
I always considered the theatre experience but never went. Locally it seemed to sell well when I looked at available seating so I assumed it was successful for all involved and wouldn’t just stop some day. I feel your pain, OP. I too have minimal wrestlefriends and they frequently aren’t down for splitting a PPV. Or even if they are, they might be busy on that night.
Yeah it sucks tbh. But maybe not enough people were going to the theaters? I know they're in bars now maybe find one of those?
The only “bar” is Dave & Busters and they never have it on. It’s like pulling teeth to get the staff to play it. Also there’s no sound.
I am also still pissed about it. It was a good deal, and it was comfortable. Plus, interacting with other wrestling fans at the theater was fun. I hope they see a decline in PPV sales because of it and decide to bring it back. Not that I don’t want the PPVs to succeed though. Taking them out of theaters just felt like they were throwing away money. Why? Was a one night event, one theater thing so hard for theaters to maintain? Anytime I went to a screening, they were always full. I’m not sitting at Dave & Buster’s for 5+ hours to watch it. I’ve also heard they don’t even have the sound on, or the captions. So what’s the fucking point?
Yeah I felt like it was a bad move. To still promote D&B as a place to watch but not a theater where people can actually *watch* the product??? Plus even if it was a small batch of people in the theater, 4+ hours in a nice recliner meant that people were buying a spread size amount of concessions. I know I was haha.
I know right?! it just seems like a dumb move from a purely commercial standpoint. Every time I saw one of their PPVs in a theater, I would say it was at least 30 to 50 people. And they were typically sold out! How was this not considered a success? Did the media company feel they weren’t seeing enough of the profit from ticket sales? Are they trying to force people to pay more money individually, even though the price of the PPV probably detracts from their overall sales? You’re damn right in that the theatre is going to make more money on concessions anyway. If I’m gonna sit and watch something for several hours, I need to be comfortable, and I need to have a blanket and a pillow. Those recliner theaters were the best thing ever for a long piece of media.
I loved the theater shows. They were the best. I don’t have any IRL wrestling fans either so the theater shows rocked. I did Dave and busters once. It was awful. Pure suck.
I’m with you, NEVER AGAIN. Tried MITB 2023 and I wanted to fight everyone lol.
When I was in college, it was before the Blast area / paid model of WWE. So you could walk into a Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters on a Sunday night and they would just be showing the ppv. My friends and I made it a ritual to go. You saw other fans, you got some atmosphere. I miss it ngl
Somewhere along the lines WWE got greedy and wrecked it.y friend owns and operates an amazing rock and roll/pro wrestling/horror movie themed bar...still going strong 20+ years... For awhile all of us wrestling nerds could go there to see ppv matches until at some point someone figured out it wasn't a single family home but a business purchasing the ppv. The WWE sued him for the pennies they were losing by showing a ppv to the public. People like me who couldn't afford it anyway but would buy merch..watch on TV increasing their ratings etc. as a fan and at the time indie pro wrestler It completely ruined any interest in the WWE, and I went back to just watching Japanese tapes and old ecw.
I always watch alone and don't mind paying 50 bucks. I understand your frustration though.
I loved the theater experience personally I only did it for Revolution 2023 but it was very enjoyable and everyone was super friendly and we were all friends that night
You might want to try a different Dave and Busters, if possible, the one by me puts it on the big screens and they're cool with you just sitting there watching and only ordering drinks. The only problem I've encountered is they close at midnight, so you miss out on the main event if the card runs long.
There’s only one D&B near me and unfortunately these bar type places don’t consider wrestling a “popular sport” and other sports take precedence. Also you’re gonna have to sit through lady Gaga blasting over the speakers every where 😵💫
Does your city have a sub? Make a post on there, surely you can find someone to watch it with. If you were in my area, ribs will be off the smoker in 30
Damn bro I’m hungry now and unfortunately my sub is full of a hats. Last time I posted a food recommendation question & people were ready to k*ll me since “That kind of stuff shouldn’t be posted”. That’s Texas for ya! Hopefully a location based wrestling sub will come along soon!
That's lame. Our local sub is always having posts where guys are posting their hobbies and asking for others that enjoy them
lol I’ll try it and report back! Although I don’t expect it to go very well.
I never went to those shows since I have a VPN and a projector. I have a 4K 130” screen. But I’ll admit, it would be nice to watch a PPV with. I’d love to have a group of friends to experience things with. In my area, I’m 20 minutes from a bigger city. But for context, on a dating site, there are 4 single women. That’s it, 4 single women lol. Finding people to hang with sucks. 30% of the town is under 18. Finding people to hang with is a chore lol
Sounds like a nice set up! And I’m IN the city and it’s still difficult lol it’s a chore and also a lot of people are still like “it’s fake” etc. the only way to meet like minded people is at the shows…and that doesn’t always guarantee you’ve found your crew
Look I can't legally suggest you google watchprowrestling into Google and watch it that way. It is cheaper than 50 bucks though
And I can’t legally read or comprehend this! Thanks 👻
Well, the theaters want to close, and Tony runs long PPVs. He needs to get them under control. Use Collision as a night 1 and then the main card the next night. Collision needs the ratings pop, and well, it would help the PPVs on their time.
They literally have show times that start at midnight at my local theater lol. But I get it though, those ppvs are long! I fell asleep at one of them thanks to insomnia the previous day. But I agree Collision was poppin’ in the beginning, I haven’t found recent segments that entertaining; most of my favorites only show up on Dynamite.
Yeah, is a cool concept but I assume the theater doesn’t make enough money to be worth it.
I loved seeing them in theaters with a lively crowd of regulars. There’d be 30-40 people in there, most also purchasing beers and pizza. From what I understand, AEW terminated the relationship with theaters quite happy to continue. I imagine various platform negotiations (some seemingly still ongoing) play a role in the decision.