How far would you travel for a wrestling show?

[CDM]

I was talking to someone who does a podcast the other day. She is traveling from the UK to Japan for wrestlekingdom. 

How far would you travel for a wrestling show? I have travelled to watch aew and a few independent shows but never more than a few hours.

 

[IronSheik]

I'd fly internationally for a Mania week.

[JNLister]

[BomberPat]

I used to travel from Jersey for shows, mostly to London, but fairly regularly to Wolverhampton, and once or twice to Manchester too. I'd try and fit other stuff around it, but I was catching flights at least once a month for a couple of years, sometimes for the sort of shows that these days I'd sometimes make excuses to pass up on even if they were happening just down the road.

I once left work in Jersey at 4pm, jumped straight into a waiting lift to the airport, and was in Bethnal Green for doors opening at 7pm. I wouldn't recommend it.

In terms of how far I theoretically would travel; I couldn't make it work, but I was offered a booking to do a live reading of my book at a WXW weekender in Oberhausen this year. That's about as far as I'd go, I think. I would love to see wrestling in Japan or Mexico, but I wouldn't travel there just for the wrestling, I'd try and factor it into a bigger trip. Whenever I go on holiday anywhere I tend to have a look if there's any wrestling on, just out of curiosity. 

[LCJ]

Furthest I’ve travelled was from Cheshire to Phoenix, Arizona for Wrestlemania 26. I’ve been to three Wrestlemanias (24, 26 and 30). I think those days of international trips to watch professional wrestling are long behind me now. Furthest I’d travel for a show these days would be about 30 miles. And even if London does eventually get Wrestlemania, I’d expect dynamic pricing and extortionate ticket costs so probably wouldn’t even bother with that now, either. Especially as I’m just not as interested in modern day wrestling.

[JNLister]

The serious answer these days is "usually not outside Bristol". It's a combination of the increased cost of trains, hotels, etc, and a closing gap in quality between an average local community centre show and the "bigger" ones. For example, there's lots of good shows in Cardiff, but I've got about half a dozen decent shows a year literally one street from my house at £12.50 and another half dozen within walking distance at around £16. Some of the Cardiff shows may be better, but you're looking at £40-50 by the time you've got the show ticket, the train, the buses to the station, and having to eat out, and they aren't *that much* better. Go to Progress or Rev Pro and even with a dirt-cheap coach ticket, it's in the £75 range and those shows often have some of the same people and definitely aren't four or five times better.

[organizedkaos]

Similar to the above except more "can i get back to my home at a reasonable time" so Wales etc are options but they need good transport (in the same way some of the further out Bristol ones aren't an option).  I'm so out of touch with British Wrestling scene that it'd probably require seeing imports to motivate... we went to a Chikira show in Newport a while back that was a lot of fun. There was an indy show (British Kingdom?) about 5 minutes from my house earlier this year that we went to and friends enjoyed enough they have been suggesting more wrestling excursions...  Problem is smaller UK stuff is so badly promoted it's hard to guage quality / style so often end up erring on the side of caution

Back in the day I went to the US for CZW Cage of Death 5 and the ROH Corino/Homicide barbed wire show (I did make a holiday of it) along with a UKFF trip to Germany for WxW Chris Hero vs Homicide. Part of that was probably predicated on having a part time job that paid well enough to do that and allow me to time wise.  Travelling for wrestling just seemed more exciting when you'd only really seen the niche stuff on tape trader VHS tapes (or even, in the case of going to IWS when I was in Canada just having read about it and seen a few clips).  It felt exciting and new and punk. I feel now you can watch decent streams as the show happens that excitement of being in the room where it happens is lessened. Or maybe just 20 years have past and wrestling isn't as exciting any more

[The Dart]

These days, I wouldn't generally go further than London (in Essex) for a single show.

I'd go to Manchester for WWE or AEW for a big show if there wasn't an equivilent show on in London on the same tour or hadn't been one recently.

Between London and Essex there's enough shows for me though.

But I have travelled to America plenty of times, as well as France for multiple shows, but I wouldn't go all that way for a single show I wouldn't have thought.  It would have to be spectacular and somewhere I'm planning to go to anyway to go that far for one single show.  The lowest number of shows I've gone to on a US trip is two, but even then, the shows are always worked around the destination.  I am going for the show(s), but not really - it's the location I'm going for.  They could do the best show ever in Kentucky or some bollocks like that, but I wouldn't go.

[The Dart]

.

Edited December 13, 2024 by The Dart

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Which promotions in and around Essex would you recommend Dart?

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I am the Dennis Bergkamp of wrestling fans in that I do not fly. Over the years of been a wrestling fan I have seen shows in Great Yarmouth, Consett, Newport in Wales, Plymouth and many points in between. I don't travel now as i dont watch live shows any more but i have done a lot of miles in the past. 

[air_raid]

22 hours ago, CDM said:

I was talking to someone who does a podcast the other day. She is traveling from the UK to Japan for wrestlekingdom. 

How far would you travel for a wrestling show?

I travelled from the UK to Japan for three G1s and a Wrestle Kingdom.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

In the past I have been to down to London and across the pond to New York and Texas for shows. All in my teens and twenties. 

These days I cant even be bothered going to an event in Glasgow. 

[SuperBacon]

I always wanted to go to a Mania or a Rumble and I've come to realise and resign myself to the fact that this will now never happen which is a bit sad if I'm honest.

[Bohan]

Travelled to the US fair few times now, done 4 Wrestlemania's and a Royal Rumble.