April 8, 2025 • 54 mins
🎙️ Episode 31 – "Body Slams & Boarding Passes: Life as a Traveling WWE Super Fan
What happens when your love for pro wrestling turns into a passport-stamping, ringside-seat-hunting, global adventure? Meet Z and Matt—power couple, travel pros, and certified WWE superfans—who’ve attended over 100 events across 7+ countries, racked up 100,000+ air miles, and become fan-famous faces on screen.
In this episode of Tickets to Travel: The Business of Travel Experiences, host Mario Bauduin dives deep into:
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What it takes (and costs!) to travel the world for wrestling
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Behind-the-scenes looks at VIP ticketing, fan hospitality, and working with On Location
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Why fans have fans, and how Z and Matt are advocating for a better fan club experience
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The emotional moment of stepping onto the WrestleMania stage
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How WWE is more than entertainment—it's global community, production art, and passion in motion
Whether you're in the travel industry, event planning, or just a curious fan, this episode is a main event you don’t want to miss. 🤼✈️
👉 Follow us for more stories at the intersection of travel, fandom, and live events: 📸 Instagram: @tix2travelpod
🎵 TikTok: @tix2travelpod
📺 YouTube: @tix2travelpod
🎧 Subscribe and listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods!
Live Event Tickets? tickets.xpotravel.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Tickets to Travel, the Business of Travel Experiences, and I'm your host, Mario DeWine. And today we have some super fans, WWE, pro Wrestling Super fans, z and Matt, welcome to the pod.
(00:01):
Great to be here. Mario, great to be here. Thanks for having us. I was a wrestling super fan early on in life I remember Junkyard dog, Tito Santana Ricky Steamboat, and these guys were like my heroes, Jimmy Superfly, snooker. They were all my heroes when I was a kid.
But then over the course of life, I just fell off. But there's one kind of core element to being a fan, and I wanted to ask you, Z first, if you had to do it yourself, would you be a baby face or a heel? I would be a heel all the way. Really? I think heels have more fun and it would be very unexpected because my personality and how I am in the world is very babyface
I would love to surprise myself and I would love to surprise people with. Just being a really brutal, brutally mean heel. Are you coming in full leather spikes and machine guns? What have you thought this through? It feels like you've thought this through a little bit.
A little bit. It would very much be about physicality, and intensity with my body language. So I am a semi-retired competitive power lifter. And in that world, I learn how to tap into aggression and tap into being very scary because when you're trying to lift the most amount of weight you can possibly lift, you have to be intense, right?
You have to have physicality. And that's what I would love to bring to. Wrestling if I were to do it. And what would your name be? Have you given that any thought? No. Have not gotten that far. Darn. Matt, how about you? Heel or baby face? I'm gonna say as a heel. Maybe even a heel manager. I never saw myself as a competitor, but maybe more as a manager.
A, just run my mouth, instigate things get people fired up to set up matches, that sort of thing. The mouth of the south. Yeah. And exactly. And you could e effectively rep Z if you wanted to, right? She would be like this crazy aggressive heel type of villain.
And then you could just be out there, you're like the Elizabeth to macho man, savage, right? You the opposite. Does that make sense? Exactly. I gotta be careful though. No, it's a little volatile. No I appreciate that. 'cause I know I, when I started telling people, Hey, I'm gonna talk to Matt and Zee about being a super fan and how they travel, how they book tickets for the various events that they go to.
People are like, I'm fishing around for other questions. And they're like what's going on with John Cena? That was the number one question that came back. And can you give us just a high level what's going on?
Yeah. So most people know John Cena as this kind of superhero. Good guy. He was the face of the company for a long time. He was the champ. He does all the work with Make A Wish. He's this superhero to kits. A lot of kids like him. They look up to him and for a long time, right? He's been in the game for a long time, 20 some years.
So unexpectedly. A few weeks ago in Toronto, he decided that he was gonna turn on Cody Rhodes. Oh no. He made it look, he made it look like, okay, we're we're gonna, we're gonna have this match at WrestleMania. We're gonna be two good guys. Just fighting it out, having a good fight. And so he hugged him and then he kicked him right in the crotch.
What? Just outta nowhere. I broke everyone's heart. Everybody was just shocked when this happened. Yeah. Okay. Z Were you guys in attendance when this happened? We were. Wow. So we were there. We watched it happen and I remember it was so surreal, but it was also the perfect moment. To really shift John Cena's career that we all know.
He's talked about it, that this is the last year of his in Ring career. So we knew in the moment it was a big deal and that it was unexpected for some folks and for me personally, I just remember watching and soaking in the moment recognizing this was pivotal. You think it's over, but then you have guys like the Rock who just show up outta nowhere.
So this is a pivotal in a lot of different ways because he's been the good guy. He's been the baby face for so long. And so what do you think is next? What, how do you think they're gonna draft the narrative around what you guys had witnessed in Toronto? Oh, now you're getting into what's called fantasy booking, and this is one of the most favorite pastimes of any wrestling fan.
Except Matt and I, we do a little bit of speculation. Okay. But it is so difficult. Why it is so difficult to forecast the future, to foresee creatively where storylines, where characters are gonna go. We know that John Cena's, his time is limited, and what we don't know is how the WWE will use that time.
And how John Cena himself wants to use that time. It's difficult to know which way it could go, because it could go so many different directions. Depending on timing and other people's availability, what makes sense, how the crowd reacts to different things. 'cause they use all those things to decide which way to take which direction to go.
So that's what makes it exciting right now for us, is that we don't, we like not knowing. We're just along for the ride. Can you look back to another sort of situation in pro wrestling where there was a similar narrative or timeline where you're like, I didn't see that coming at all.
Matt, do you think Austin and Rock was a similar dynamic with his turn on the Rock? It was different. It was different in that Austin was an anti-hero, right?
He wasn't so much like Hulk Hogan comic book character style. So when he turned heel Hogan's heel turn. Hogan was like John Cena. Yeah. Back looking. Yeah. He went to the NWO, right? That was the deciding with the NWO. Yeah. Yeah. Because people didn't see that coming, so that was a little different.
There was this, he was the third man in this invading faction in WCW. Coming in, causing problems for people. But he was there. Yeah. He was presenting as an ally to the company, and then it was revealed that he was behind the new world order. And he became this Hollywood Hogan. It was similar but different.
Yeah. Like it was probably equally shocking to a lot of people. Equally shocking. But how long did they run that out? Like how Hollywood Hogan ran for what, a couple years? Yeah, a few years before. WCW ceased to exist really. It was a very strong few years and they pulled ahead of WWE or f and the ratings put a lot of pressure on 'em to do better.
And it was a great time for the fans, right? Because every Monday night you would watch both shows. Somehow you'd figure out how to go between TVs or stations, and it was just a really great time. But he kicked that off as part of his turn. I'm the leader of this new group. I'm the bad guy.
(00:22):
Yep. Which kind of pushed all, put all that into motion, seen as a little bit different. 'cause he doesn't have that open-ended timeframe. Like he said he's hanging it up at the end of the year. So if we're gonna turn him to a bad guy, bring him back to a good guy. Or if it ends somewhere in between.
Yeah, so you guys were actually there, which is a good thing to, to talk about because see, what are the numbers here? You guys, are we, by the way, we have to shout out Steve Rubin. Obviously he's a guy who, yes. Who introduced us because I had posed a question out to my network, Hey, if you know any super fans, and Steve came back, says, you gotta meet Zia Matt.
They are the at the highest level of superfans for WWE during his, I don't know, 30 year career. So that's a huge compliment to both of you for starters. But what are the numbers you guys have been to? How many events, how many destinations? Matt's probably got those. Yeah, I was pulling together the numbers, like how many shows, how many air miles, how many cities, how many countries, all those sorts of things.
Oh, yeah. Let's run it down. Yeah. So I, where do I start? I didn't get to go to shows as a kid back in the eighties when I started watching. Yeah. So I didn't get to 'em until later in life. You have to be able to afford to go, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's a big piece, that's a big theme in all of this, is that to be a super fan, you have to liberate a certain amount of of income expendable income to be able to follow your heroes.
So I'll take it from 2018, we were sitting around watching, every year we watched WrestleMania, just of course, at least if nothing else. So we're sitting there watching WrestleMania 34, and they announced 35 being in New York, and we looked at each other and said, why don't we just go. So we went and that was 2019 and it kicked off this, hey, let's, this is amazing.
Let's start going to more events. So we started sitting ringside for a few events, but then the lockdown came, right? We had front road tickets to WrestleMania before the one that was canceled, the world closed, all that, right? So the world closes and then the numbers get interesting once the world opened back up.
So 2021, they ran the half full WrestleMania for two nights at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where they had like cardboard cutouts of people and you couldn't sit. Next to people that spaced everyone out. It was very surreal. I don't know if you went to any events during that time.
I actually did. I went to a a Brooklyn Nets basketball game and they only had certain sections open. That's true. But y yeah, the spectator part where they had the card cardboard cutouts.
Can you believe we actually lived through that? That's nuts. Yeah, I know. It's wild to think about. Okay, so that's like 2021, right? Yeah. So that's when this whole thing really started since 2021. We went where did we go to Defy in Seattle last weekend? That was show number 102 since the lockdown.
Wow, okay. So in the last four years, let's say. Yeah. It's over a hundred events. Yes. Yeah. And how many destinations do you think? And that's a blend of different cities and countries. So I broke it down by year cities and countries most. So it really took off in 2023, we hit 11 cities two countries.
But then in 2024, we went to five different countries in 17 different cities. Wow. So 2021 and 2022, we went to 25 shows across a couple countries just getting started. And 2023 we hit over 50,000 airline miles. And again, 11 cities, two countries, 2024. We hit a hundred thousand air miles, 17 cities in five countries.
Wow. So you've got are you Delta? Are you Yeah. Yeah. You're a Delta guy, right? Yeah, I am a Delta guy. I'm a Sky Miles guy. But you guys are definitely Diamond at this point, right? Yeah, we did hit Diamond last year in March. February or March, because we went to Perth. Yeah. Oh, that'll do it. Yeah.
That'll do it. Okay. Wow. Okay, so then over a hundred you, you said in that stint, at least 10 different countries. Is that the total or let's see. So us, Canada we went to Wales, we went to Scotland, we went to England. We went to France, Germany, Australia, I think at least seven. Amazing different countries, many different cities, sometimes more than once to the same country.
The, okay, so that's the travel. Yeah. And in terms of what makes you guys unique as well, is that you are in the front row, typically, right? And that is a conscious decision. Yes. Yes, very much because I'm barely five feet tall and I just want to be able to see, I don't wanna happen. I would've guessed that being no constructive view, wanting to be a heel, you'd be at least six foot.
See sadly, no. Okay. That explains wanting to be in the, in, in the front row, but let's talk about that process. Were you like, if we're gonna, so I always say this to a lot of people it is mainly in sports in general. It's unless I'm in the lower bowl to see the game. The best seat is actually at home.
On the actual on your couch. Watching the game itself. When someone's oh, you should go to the Super Bowl, or whatever it is. But I'm a firm believer in that, so if I go to a live event, I wanna be close. Because that is the real experience. And so you guys must have gone through a similar sort of thought process that if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this the right way.
Am I right? Very much I will say we did not set out to travel this much. Okay. We originally thought, maybe not a one and done, but let's just go to WrestleMania and we'll figure it out from there. And we have continued to go to event after event. I, it was a process not only to get from our couch to the front row.
But from our couch to a few rows back. And experiencing that, what's that like? And then, like you said earlier, being able to free up some disposable income to make it to the front row and go through that process. And now we are in this next evolution of where we sit. We still are front row, but we're in different areas.
So typically we are in what's called camera side. It's what on tv. Yep. Lately we've been playing around with being behind the announced desk and experiencing that because you have a different perspective on what the announcers and commentaries are doing, what action spills out in that area.
Still front row though. And then most recently we were able to sit on what's called the friends and family. Or hard cam side, which is typically not as visible on the TV broadcast. And yet again, it provides a different experience because you see things that you don't normally see in other areas around the rink.
And that's something that's a, that makes it really interesting sitting down ringside for us. Not only the view, but every, seeing everything that goes on production wise or all the little details of how they communicate with each other. Things. You don't pick up on TV necessarily, because we're really into the production side of things.
(00:43):
Oh, we are big, how it works and big production. We are big into that. So that's part of the experience for us too. No I completely understand what you're saying. It's it's why I have this podcast in a lot of ways. When people are saying how does that actually work?
How do you get the hotel rooms? How do you get the tickets? What how do these websites work? How do these companies work? It's that little piece that, you know, as fans of anything and everyone's a fan of travel, right? And everyone's a fan of live events. You wanna know, or at least respect the things that, let's say Steve does
in terms of managing these big teams of people to coordinate with sponsors and the different views of the ring and the interview parts. There's so many moving parts. It's just really about respect at the end of the day. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely right. We have so much respect and admiration for what not only the WWE crew has to go through to produce this much.
Content over and over. They have no off season. They are traveling all over the world. The logistics alone, it's just full on respect, full on admiration. And also we have primarily been talking about WWE, but we do go to local shows and other promotions and even seeing the experience of local shows where they don't have a big staff.
It's the promoter, maybe some friends, some wrestling school students, seeing them bringing their desire to get involved, to help out, to set up the ring. Those kinds of things that again, we just have so much respect for. Yeah, no I totally understand. It's interesting to hear about your various parts of the Ring experience.
So that means you guys get on television a lot, right? We do. That is. Also been a wild experience. Matt you have a very distinct look right on, and so it seems that it, when someone sees you on television, they probably gravitate towards you in real life.
I do have a bit of a distinct look for, since this is all audio, right? If you've seen me, I have a giant ridiculous beard that I just haven't shaved in four years. Long story on that, just. Maybe a boring story. I just stopped shaving. Yeah. Did you stop shaving because of wrestling or did you stop shaving just because you're like, eh, I'm over It Z's into it.
That's gonna be our calling card. It wasn't calculated by any means, I don't think. But what is the quick story about the beard? I started maybe 10, 12 years ago, just growing a beard nice and tight. Just short, right? But then the lockdown came and I just let it go. No one's in the office.
No one's going to the office. And it started growing straight, like straight down. It grew out before like bushy. So I would shave it just 'cause I didn't want it growing outward and it would curl in different things. But for some reason, as I got older, it grew straight. Huh? Started to grow straight.
So I'm like, okay. It doesn't look as ridiculous growing straight versus growing in a giant bushy fro style. But, so I just let it go for probably, I think it's been three or four years now, I think. So it's probably down to my chest, I would say. Oh wow. Okay. Got pretty long, a little bit long and unruly.
Yeah. And it's red. And it's red. Yeah. From what I saw on social media it's red, so it's very distinct. Z you've obviously been along on this journey do you get recognized as well? Not as frequently as Matt does.
And what's very interesting is that we have had people recognize him, but they don't recognize me, even though we're always sitting next to each other and we're walking around together. Sure. So when we were at a show in Minneapolis. We heard yelling, somebody was yelling, chief officer, and my Instagram handle is my name, but my description is Chief Bicep Officer.
Because? Because you're Matt And I always flex. Yeah. In photos you're like any wrestling photos we're always flexing. So my, my description is Chief Bicep Officer. We were at the show and we heard folks yelling, chief Officer. Chief Officer Turnaround. There's maybe a dozen fans on a balcony yelling just to say hi to me.
Wow. That was probably the first time fans reached out to me. First recognized me first because all the other times people recognize Matt, they recognize him. Beard guy, ringside, beard because his beard is so distinctive. But I, I see a distinct marketing opportunity to put you guys together with t-shirts and fake beards and all this other stuff where you guys can just take it to another level of making some money.
You know what I mean? Because you spend enough on the travel and the events itself. I think without getting into too much detail, do you guys budget for these events or does it just come up and I guess what I'm getting at is like how much planning goes into it, less and less.
Yes. It's a little bit crazy. It just becomes, it becomes like automatic. We're going, it's done. It became that at first. So let me back up a little bit at, so when we started doing it, it was at a much lower price point. Okay. And during this period, the prices have gone up exponentially. Yeah. Across the, yeah.
In all live events. It has, you're right. Yeah. At all levels. Like just the get in price, the merch price, the front row price, the whole thing has gone up tremendously. But I don't know, maybe it's reckless, maybe it's something else, but we just assume we're going for the, in the meantime this is just something we do.
It's part of our life. We figure out how to make it work. Has it been challenging? More than I can express this. It became, it's a full-time job, a second full-time job. At least, maybe more than that. The amount of work and time and thought and effort we put into it is tremendous. Just to make it happen.
This is why we're here, i, we have an audience of travel professionals, ticketing, live events, professionals, and that's why those guys exist. And so I guess the next question, Matt and Z, is how do you book all of this? Yeah. For tickets, there's usually two avenues. Okay. With WWE, we book through on location experiences, which is W's VIP package service provider.
Yep. Who does a, an amazing job, by the way. They also have the rights to little events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, right? Yes. Yeah. That was a World Cup. Oh yeah. The World Cup that, yeah. That's these guys are experts at what they do from a booking and organizing putting the package together and then executing on the package.
So you guys will go in and buy an amazing experience. That takes up a good portion of the planning, right? You gotta get there. But because you purchased this package through on location, typically, how does the experience start for you?
(01:04):
So I'm just curious, as someone who's never been on one of these before, like, how do they manage you as the guest? As the fan who's it's not a inexpensive package, right? It's a VIP experience. And so how does that process kick off? Yeah. It's evolved over time for us personally.
Yeah. Cause you can buy a package off their website. You can just go there and buy it and pay for it. Yeah. But you guys are a little bit different, right? They, yeah. They treat you differently because of the exposure that you have to a certain degree, right? We have a dedicated sales rep, so for the larger context, on location does provide different package tiers and you can purchase a package at the lowest tier and not have communication or contact with a customer service rep or anyone really.
You can just buy it on the website, call it good. You'll get some communication, you'll receive your tickets to tell you, or so you can get into the venue, where we are usually at the highest level package tier where we've been assigned a dedicated sales rep, which we were assigned a dedicated sales rep, maybe after three packages
four packages when they realized we were repeat Right buyers? You're serious? Yeah. So we were, and there's probably 12 to 15 of us regular buyers. So we're assigned a dedicated sales rep who we are able to communicate with. We primarily text with our sales rep. We'll get the heads up that an event will be going on sale.
We'll receive the package information in terms of the inclusions, of course, the cost, and then get on a call to talk it out, ask any questions, make our decision, yes or no, where are we going? And the answer is usually yes. That's usually like 10 minutes from when he texts us. He'll say, this is going on sale.
Here's what I've got. Let's talk it out. Wow. Yeah. So you guys are cut above. They're like, heads up, we know you guys are coming. So along those lines, you guys have been to, again, over a hundred of these. When that package goes on sale, are there certain inclusions that you just automatically expect?
And are there any inclusions where you're like, whoa that's awesome or that's different? In terms of what we expect? We expect hospitality, which is usually a couple hours before the showtime, and it includes food and beverage. And there's superstar talent meet and greet photo opportunities.
That's a foundational, that is the, yeah. Inclusion. If you don't get that, this is not the value you're looking for in terms of a VIP experience. Yes. And then f and b and meet and greet. Yes. F and b and meet and greet. And then also even just the small touch of a lanyard. So a credential, a lanyard with what's usually the promotional poster for that event. And that lanyard and credential has the package to your name on it. And that's also just one of those basic conclusions that we always expect. There's a standard list. Typically at the tiers, there's usually a similar experience, but in a different venue in a different city.
So there can be some variation there, yeah. Ringside photo is also a standard inclusion that we expect, and that's where we can take a picture. On or not on the ring, but at ringside. So you are on the other side of the barricade.
And so the ringside photo, and sometimes there's also a ramp photo where the talent comes out. We can take pictures there. That gives you that, that special experience you're not gonna get when you just buy the ticket. So you get there early, earlier than anybody else. And then they walk you through to the various locations and you can take photos and then if anything, you might have a meet and greet that's based there too.
And that's a very unique experience. I should to continue walking you through what it looks like once we're on the ground. Yeah. So we're now at the venue waiting for doors to open. On location. Representatives usually meet us at a designated door, so on location at the venue, has a specific door for their package holders to line up at on location.
Staff will meet us, walk us back either to hospitality or towards the ring so we can take our ringside photo, do that, and then if we haven't already been to hospitality, they'll take us back there so we can have our food, and then do the meet and greets with the talent.
Got it. So once that's done, then we'll usually get escorted down to our seats. We'll get seated, get any sort of wristbands for being on the floor or wristbands. That allow us to take our souvenir chair home, ah, afterwards. Then we just wait for the show to start. I think I, in the preliminary to all this, I asked you how many folding chairs you have, but it's gotta be, if you've been to a hundred of these what did you say, Matt?
We have 80 chairs. Yeah. 80. So currently, so that's one each. So out of the 40 you got, I, so at 40 events for 80 chairs, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. Roughly. Yep. Because not all events have chairs. Which experience sticks out the most in terms of the package offerings what was it that just that one sticks out the most as a very unique VIP experience?
For me, it was being able to step out on the WrestleMania 40, which was in Philadelphia. This stage, we were able to walk out and see what it was like to be on the WrestleMania stage as the wrestlers do. We were able to walk through backstage and come out that same tunnel, which is called Gorilla, that they do and experience the vastness of the spectacle that is WrestleMania and that walkout is not an everyday package inclusion.
That is definitely one of those unexpected, once you experience it, you just wanna keep experiencing it. It's like a huge adrenaline rush. Or people are already in the stands too. Yes. Wow. How about you, Matt? Does that stick out as well? Yep. That's exactly what I was going to say. That exact thing of walking out on the stage, it's like it is WrestleMania and you go out on the stage, like I don't know how to describe the feeling vastness the gravity of it.
Okay, this is the biggest stage in this whole crazy world of pro wrestling, and we're standing on it. Yeah. It's wild. Again it's incredible. It's incredible. We've gone to a Super Bowl and we've done other VIP experiences, a MG driving academy, so we've done these high adrenaline events before, WrestleMania and wrestling in general is unlike any other live event that you'll attend.
And there are many reasons for that. One of which. Just that stage, that spectacle, the size, the scope, the amount of fans that are already in the stands when you walk out, it's very hard to describe. You have no words. I take it, so I've had the opportunity to be at a fest on stage at a festival, for a hip hop concert. And it's been maybe there's let's say, let's call it 30, 40,000 people facing me, that's in of itself an interesting experience, but you guys are literally surrounded by 50,000 people, because the ring is the center point, and you're sitting there and you get to look around and just wow, these guys are really on stage. You have to be perfect in what you do because there's just no, no room for any mistakes,
Am I right that, that's the vibe I get because artists talk about this all the time. They're performing on stage and they feed off of the energy of the crowd coming at them. I would think WrestleMania is just like bonkers, right? Like you've got it coming from every single side of you people screaming, yelling encouraging you.
I couldn't even imagine what that must have felt like for you guys as just being super fans, being in the middle of it all. It's why we're going back to Vegas. Yeah. WrestleMania 41 in about three weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah. It was that stage experience where we were still on stage and we looked at each other and we said, we have to do this again.
Yeah. Which we have to, so we'll, we're doing it again. That's amazing. In Vegas. And to, to your point about they, they do this live with their, it's, there's never a net, it's always improvised on the fly. Everyone's watching you in WrestleMania in particular, they have people from all 50 states and literally dozens of countries, I think 40 countries or something who come out to this.
(01:25):
Who travel from all over the world to see it. So I can't imagine the pressure, or the adrenaline or all of it. And they do this night in, night out. And this is WrestleMania is the culmination of all that kind of, it's the championship, right? It's the, it's their Super Bowl. There's this whole thing where people it's happened all my life where I heard, oh wrestling's fake and this and that.
And I, I always I beg to differ like those are real flips and those are real body slams and those are real moves and there's a very high level of skill involved to be able to execute a proper body slam, and that, having that and I don't think it's fake. I don't think it's fake at all.
It's more performance art than anything else where these people are. Masters of their craft they've come up through the various ranks and you can see specific talent. And of course there's all sorts of other things that are associated to that. But again, it comes back to what you guys were saying earlier, it's just a matter of respect not just for the people behind the scenes, but for the performers.
Because whether it's acting or just athletic skill that is the highest level of what they do. Agreed. And you're bringing up a reason why we actually do this. And that's because wrestling, pro wrestling needs advocates. We take our role as fans to mean more than just being fans.
We didn't sit out to do this, but we've turned it into something that is bigger than us pro wrestling. In many ways still has stigma associated with it. Being a pro wrestling fan is not generally cool. And if you bring it up, somebody says, oh, I used to watch that. Is Steve Austin still around? What's Hogan doing?
This is a different time for them. And one of the things we like to do is we have a yellow frame. It's yellow and it has a center cutout, so we're not blocking anybody's view. And around the frame it says connecting people through wrestling. Ah. It's not something we started, it's something our friend Chris Parkhurst started.
We're trying to connect people through wrestling and we get to do that all over the world. And we also try to be advocates for pro wrestling. I've received messages where somebody's desire to watch weekly shows has been reignited because it brings him comfort after a family member passed.
Wow. 'cause he can feel connected to the wrestling family. I've had somebody reach out saying, my partner is really into pro wrestling. I have no idea what they're talking about. Can you please help me? Because they want to better connect with their partner. And that's what we do. We share our love of wrestling.
We share these adventures that we go on, these experiences that we have to really connect folks with each other and to also connect folks with pro wrestling because it's still not widely accepted as being cool is being fun as. Being something that is worth doing and going to events for. What you're touching on is the common theme that I'm hearing in all these fan travel stories episode, and it comes down to one word and that word is community and creating the community around the live event or the brand or whatever it might be.
Then there becomes like a subculture of that. And so it's important for people like yourselves to champion it and be advocates for that community and what it represents around that particular brand. Because as a whole. You have a lot of power, so much power that brands and companies are trying to tap into that mentality and really come off as authentic.
Because what you proven out to, to do is if you're treated the right way and a brand or anybody can say, Hey, I authentically believe in what you're doing you'll spend the money to support that community and to support the, that particular brand. And that's essentially what we're getting at here is that each one of these event producers, they are trying to develop that community and that's what you guys represent.
And so what are some of the unique things about being a WWE e Super fan that you guys would like to share with everybody? As fans, we have fans. And that's the best way I can describe it because other live events generally don't have fans. So even if you are a regular at NFL games, and maybe you're known for how you dress up, maybe people will see you often enough where they point you out or they see you on while they're watching a game and they're like, oh, hey, there's that guy.
I love his outfit. The Raider spikes are on point, right? But you're not necessarily gonna have the opportunity to see him at a game and tap him on the shoulder, ask for a selfie. Fans are, just as important to the whole experience of the event and being able to interact with the fans that is different than other live events.
So we as fans. Have fans, which is very weird to say out loud, but it's true. Matt, with his distinctive look, has people who, we were in Leone, France, there was this one fan who was speechless. He recognized Matt, he wanted to welcome him to France and he was speechless because he had seen Matt so frequently Yeah.
On tv. And he's finally seeing him in the flesh. It's a strange experience. Fame. Yeah. Just 'cause I know we're on TV a lot, but I don't actively think about it. So much. And then when that sort of thing happens, it's oh wow, this is wild. Because I'm a pretty private person. I'll be like I'm not outgoing.
I don't go out much. Z's friends with everybody. I'm. In the background. So yeah, it's, people will come up and ask for pictures, which is just, it's wild every time. You don't really get used to it. It's, I don't mind doing it. I'm happy to do it. Really Hey thanks for welcoming us and me to, to France.
I don't even know if I can articulate it cleanly or correctly the way that it feels. But I think it, it's something bigger. It tells us that people tell us directly that we inspire them or that they wanna do this one day or that they're working on, Yeah. Getting front row tickets one day and that's incredible.
Yeah. I, that, that's incredible. And we take that seriously. Like it's not something I'm using as a point of ego or to boast about, but we're in a position and I take it as a position of responsibility. Almost at this point to do even better somehow. Yeah. You represent the brand, you represent the community
you're almost like I, that sort of pivots into another question. Do, are you guys part of a fan club? Am chuckling Because that's a gap, at least in terms of an official WWE fan club. Mania Club. They were just a group of wrestling fans that came together to really support W'S efforts with the V Foundation and raise money through the wrestling community for pediatric cancers.
But it's not like a formal fan club. And you have these small pockets of Facebook groups of discords that have cropped up organically, but there's no central fan club that WWE sponsors or really any group or organization really spearheads. I do think that Mania Club in 2024 formalized their organization as a nonprofit.
So they're making organizational strides, but it's still mostly on the fundraising and the philanthropy. That's aligned with WWE e got it. I think we, we even talked about this in the prelim, right? There's probably a need for a true fan club where you guys could leverage numbers to one, open up opportunities for other fans to get access to certain tickets or certain experiences,
(01:46):
cause I think I'm talking to the the CEO and the CEO of what could become a, a pretty good business, give that some thought. I'm telling you I'm gonna get a piece of every fake beard that's out there. There you go. There you go.
So you hear, you heard it here first. I think it's the travel. That's right. No I think what you guys are doing are, is honorable and it's really amazing, especially when they don't speak English
yeah. It's the common interest I don't think anybody's ever spoke on behalf of the fans before for wwe, which is pretty unique. So I think one of the questions I had was really about your experience and if you could talk to on location,
what are some helpful hints for fans wanting to book travel and tickets to a WrestleMania.
If I'm a fan that wants to purchase through on location, some tips, one, get familiar with the website and spend visit it regularly, okay? Because A, an event can get announced and yes, right now, WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans is on the on location website.
Stuff changes all the time. So just get familiar with the website. And then if you're a first time buyer, you won't be assigned a sales rep. You'll probably make the purchase online unless you are choosing to purchase the highest tier, which means they will have to connect you with a sales rep. And from there communication.
That'll probably be via email. Ask all of your questions and make sure you're comfortable with the answers you get. If you have a dedicated rep, work with them only instead of the general guest services email. Number one tip. Get familiar with the website. Number two tip, communicate even if it feels like too much.
They can tend to do things, old school, meaning get on the phone and talk to them. I know a lot of people like to just do emails or order online and not talk to people, but there's a huge benefit in getting on the phone and talking to people. If it's the guest services people, a particular sales rep or someone else, talk it out.
Get clear on what you want, and try to get answers to those questions. Any areas of improvement? You guys are vets at booking these type of experiences. ZI know you're a operations professional yourself, so I know you have a lot of respect for what they do to put together.
But I'm just curious if there's any one thing that sort of stands out that says, Hey, this is gonna make every fan's experience much, much cleaner, much smoother before actually it still comes down to communication. So before you're on site for the event day, execution of logistics, seeing more frequent communications from on location to you as a customer would be a big improvement because sometimes you make this purchase and months go by before you hear.
You get another email saying, here's what you can expect and we know to expect this. So that's just how it is, right? If I'm a new customer, I'm gonna be wondering, when am I going to hear from on location? When am I going to get my tickets? When am I gonna get a schedule, an itinerary? And you're just left waiting.
You can make the purchase months go by before you hear something from on location. So that's again, communication before the event even starts. And then similarly on event day logistics at any venue is never the same. They're always different. Every venue is different. You have different staff, you have different, it's just very different.
Different. And there's never enough signage to point you where on location is at. So you all these venues are huge. Vegas has Allegion, that's where WrestleMania will be. Huge footprint. And many times you're left just wandering, literally wandering, looking for where you're supposed to be so again, communication before the event on site.
Even something as simple as on location branded polos to indicate who is a staff member with them. So you know who to go to if you have questions. And those are, again, communications. The big thing for me. Yeah just to, in the transition here signage, that's huge.
Polos with the branding, that's they seem like pretty easy fixes. Z What about you, Matt? What do you think? Yeah, that maybe zooming out from that would be, I help me not think so much. I, if I pay a premium, I'm, my, my hope is that I don't have to think very much.
It's when do I, when and where do I need to be? And that's about it. But when there are those gaps, for whatever reason, and a lot of times there are valid reasons. It's not that they're forgotten or overlooked, it's just there's a lot of variability on making these things happen, right? So if I'm the customer, and I'm always thinking
what about this? Why is this happening? Why isn't this happening? I'm confused. Give me clarity and more absence of thought. Let me worry more about just having a good time. And that can be broken down in dozens of ways, probably. It could be people driven, it could be system driven, process driven, though there's a lot of areas to look at to for that.
But that would be my number one thing. Yeah. No that all makes a ton of sense. Yeah I would've thought that they 'cause well, sometimes it's out of their control. Like sometimes the venues like the ticket thing I hear this all the time. I bought tickets. Don't know when they're gonna be transferred to me, depending on the show and the venue.
If it's Billie Eilish, they're gonna wait 48 hours before showtime to, to transfer you. If it's something else, you might get 'em instantaneous, instantaneously. There's different rules that sort of apply in this, but you guys are both right. There should be more at that level, a lot more communication.
To make sure that you guys feel comfortable with the purchase because it, there, you guys have done this so much. You're right to call out the first timer who's wait a second, I just dropped it. What? And then no one talks to me. And just what I just said there's should be some communication.
Yeah, the lack of visibility and understanding of those processes. Yep. And we understand that on the, it takes a lot of different steps for us to get our ticket, for us to get the package inclusion.
(02:07):
So we understand there's a lot that is outside of on location's control. And we try to be cognizant of that when we're providing feedback to our sales rep about how the experience went. Favorite destination that you traveled through?
With, on location and WE and why?
Okay. In terms of event experience and fan experience, I'm going with Leon France because the crowd is really what made that event phenomenal. The amount of singing and clapping and it was unbelievable. And then in terms of destination, I'm going with Perth because it took 35 hours Wow. From when our garage door closed to when we opened up the hotel room door to get there.
And it's the furthest. It's the ends of the earth. It really is. Yeah. There's no, there was no place like it that we had ever been. And it, you said 35 hours. How long did you stay? Because you had to be there for at least, I don't know, five nights or something to make it worth the travel.
It was six nights. Okay. There you go. Okay. We're usually in and out. We spend 36 hours on the ground in Leon. These are very quick for us, like weekend trips, a lot of the time. Even to Europe. Man, you guys are travel gangsters. I'm telling you. Matt. Favorite destination, favorite event. Leone was isn't my favorite event.
For the same reason the crowd like Leone and the year prior for the same event, the event is called Backlash. They were in San Juan. And the crowd there as well. Just incredible. It's something, there's something you can't describe about being in a crowd that is so loud and into it, just the emotion and the feeling in the venue, like it comes through on the tv.
Although that's loud, it's great. They sound amazing, but what you feel down on the ground is incredible. And as far as the destination, you feel the emotion. Yeah. Yeah. You feel the emotion that doesn't necessarily come through the tv, the just that energy fueled by emotion. I was just sitting there laughing because I didn't know what else to do.
Like it just this overwhelming feeling and laughing. I just started laughing. I don't know why, but it came out that way. You know why Matt? We're Americans, man we're not really trained to be like super fans. Like when you, it doesn't shock me that the crowd in Leone, France who had been, it with their football, soccer teams have been on the verge of violence if they lose. I don't get the same way for the Warriors or for the Niners. I get mad, but I'm not gonna go in Molotov cocktail, someone's car like these guys would. So it's just a different vibe altogether.
And I think it's cultural to a certain degree. And so it's amazing you guys had the opportunity to experience that in these different countries. Amazing. Just amazing. Yeah. What's your favorite destination? Yeah, Matt? Probably Perth. We're actually going back, oh, believe it or not really? I can't, yeah.
I don't know too many Americans who do that trip twice. So it must, why was it your favorite destination, it is like visiting another planet that speaks English. That's good. We, yeah. Yeah. We went on some excursions. Yeah. Just some via tour excursions. Hey, what's there to do around here? So we took a couple hour ride out to this place called the Pinnacles.
And it's like being on the surface of another planet. There are all these giant rock formations everywhere and it's, yeah. All I can say is it's not like being on earth anymore. Amazing. There are other places like that out there that we want to go see that we didn't have time to see throughout Southwest Australia.
So that's part of why we're going back, is to explore some more just because of the unique experience of it all. And we're going back 'cause WWE announced they were going back. Wow. So there you go. Where they go. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I think you are. Great representatives of the WWE Pro wrestling fan community, and so I look forward to seeing more of your adventures online.
And you're welcome to come back to tickets, us to travel, to talk about your experience anytime. So thank you for making time for me today. Thank you. Awesome. This was fun. Thank you. Yeah, it's a lot of fun talking about it.
Welcome to Tickets to Travel, the Business of Travel Experiences, and I'm your host, Mario DeWine. And today we have some super fans, WWE, pro Wrestling Super fans, z and Matt, welcome to the pod.
(00:01):
Great to be here. Mario, great to be here. Thanks for having us. I was a wrestling super fan early on in life I remember Junkyard dog, Tito Santana Ricky Steamboat, and these guys were like my heroes, Jimmy Superfly, snooker. They were all my heroes when I was a kid.
But then over the course of life, I just fell off. But there's one kind of core element to being a fan, and I wanted to ask you, Z first, if you had to do it yourself, would you be a baby face or a heel? I would be a heel all the way. Really? I think heels have more fun and it would be very unexpected because my personality and how I am in the world is very babyface
I would love to surprise myself and I would love to surprise people with. Just being a really brutal, brutally mean heel. Are you coming in full leather spikes and machine guns? What have you thought this through? It feels like you've thought this through a little bit.
A little bit. It would very much be about physicality, and intensity with my body language. So I am a semi-retired competitive power lifter. And in that world, I learn how to tap into aggression and tap into being very scary because when you're trying to lift the most amount of weight you can possibly lift, you have to be intense, right?
You have to have physicality. And that's what I would love to bring to. Wrestling if I were to do it. And what would your name be? Have you given that any thought? No. Have not gotten that far. Darn. Matt, how about you? Heel or baby face? I'm gonna say as a heel. Maybe even a heel manager. I never saw myself as a competitor, but maybe more as a manager.
A, just run my mouth, instigate things get people fired up to set up matches, that sort of thing. The mouth of the south. Yeah. And exactly. And you could e effectively rep Z if you wanted to, right? She would be like this crazy aggressive heel type of villain.
And then you could just be out there, you're like the Elizabeth to macho man, savage, right? You the opposite. Does that make sense? Exactly. I gotta be careful though. No, it's a little volatile. No I appreciate that. 'cause I know I, when I started telling people, Hey, I'm gonna talk to Matt and Zee about being a super fan and how they travel, how they book tickets for the various events that they go to.
People are like, I'm fishing around for other questions. And they're like what's going on with John Cena? That was the number one question that came back. And can you give us just a high level what's going on?
Yeah. So most people know John Cena as this kind of superhero. Good guy. He was the face of the company for a long time. He was the champ. He does all the work with Make A Wish. He's this superhero to kits. A lot of kids like him. They look up to him and for a long time, right? He's been in the game for a long time, 20 some years.
So unexpectedly. A few weeks ago in Toronto, he decided that he was gonna turn on Cody Rhodes. Oh no. He made it look, he made it look like, okay, we're we're gonna, we're gonna have this match at WrestleMania. We're gonna be two good guys. Just fighting it out, having a good fight. And so he hugged him and then he kicked him right in the crotch.
What? Just outta nowhere. I broke everyone's heart. Everybody was just shocked when this happened. Yeah. Okay. Z Were you guys in attendance when this happened? We were. Wow. So we were there. We watched it happen and I remember it was so surreal, but it was also the perfect moment. To really shift John Cena's career that we all know.
He's talked about it, that this is the last year of his in Ring career. So we knew in the moment it was a big deal and that it was unexpected for some folks and for me personally, I just remember watching and soaking in the moment recognizing this was pivotal. You think it's over, but then you have guys like the Rock who just show up outta nowhere.
So this is a pivotal in a lot of different ways because he's been the good guy. He's been the baby face for so long. And so what do you think is next? What, how do you think they're gonna draft the narrative around what you guys had witnessed in Toronto? Oh, now you're getting into what's called fantasy booking, and this is one of the most favorite pastimes of any wrestling fan.
Except Matt and I, we do a little bit of speculation. Okay. But it is so difficult. Why it is so difficult to forecast the future, to foresee creatively where storylines, where characters are gonna go. We know that John Cena's, his time is limited, and what we don't know is how the WWE will use that time.
And how John Cena himself wants to use that time. It's difficult to know which way it could go, because it could go so many different directions. Depending on timing and other people's availability, what makes sense, how the crowd reacts to different things. 'cause they use all those things to decide which way to take which direction to go.
So that's what makes it exciting right now for us, is that we don't, we like not knowing. We're just along for the ride. Can you look back to another sort of situation in pro wrestling where there was a similar narrative or timeline where you're like, I didn't see that coming at all.
Matt, do you think Austin and Rock was a similar dynamic with his turn on the Rock? It was different. It was different in that Austin was an anti-hero, right?
He wasn't so much like Hulk Hogan comic book character style. So when he turned heel Hogan's heel turn. Hogan was like John Cena. Yeah. Back looking. Yeah. He went to the NWO, right? That was the deciding with the NWO. Yeah. Yeah. Because people didn't see that coming, so that was a little different.
There was this, he was the third man in this invading faction in WCW. Coming in, causing problems for people. But he was there. Yeah. He was presenting as an ally to the company, and then it was revealed that he was behind the new world order. And he became this Hollywood Hogan. It was similar but different.
Yeah. Like it was probably equally shocking to a lot of people. Equally shocking. But how long did they run that out? Like how Hollywood Hogan ran for what, a couple years? Yeah, a few years before. WCW ceased to exist really. It was a very strong few years and they pulled ahead of WWE or f and the ratings put a lot of pressure on 'em to do better.
And it was a great time for the fans, right? Because every Monday night you would watch both shows. Somehow you'd figure out how to go between TVs or stations, and it was just a really great time. But he kicked that off as part of his turn. I'm the leader of this new group. I'm the bad guy.
(00:22):
Yep. Which kind of pushed all, put all that into motion, seen as a little bit different. 'cause he doesn't have that open-ended timeframe. Like he said he's hanging it up at the end of the year. So if we're gonna turn him to a bad guy, bring him back to a good guy. Or if it ends somewhere in between.
Yeah, so you guys were actually there, which is a good thing to, to talk about because see, what are the numbers here? You guys, are we, by the way, we have to shout out Steve Rubin. Obviously he's a guy who, yes. Who introduced us because I had posed a question out to my network, Hey, if you know any super fans, and Steve came back, says, you gotta meet Zia Matt.
They are the at the highest level of superfans for WWE during his, I don't know, 30 year career. So that's a huge compliment to both of you for starters. But what are the numbers you guys have been to? How many events, how many destinations? Matt's probably got those. Yeah, I was pulling together the numbers, like how many shows, how many air miles, how many cities, how many countries, all those sorts of things.
Oh, yeah. Let's run it down. Yeah. So I, where do I start? I didn't get to go to shows as a kid back in the eighties when I started watching. Yeah. So I didn't get to 'em until later in life. You have to be able to afford to go, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's a big piece, that's a big theme in all of this, is that to be a super fan, you have to liberate a certain amount of of income expendable income to be able to follow your heroes.
So I'll take it from 2018, we were sitting around watching, every year we watched WrestleMania, just of course, at least if nothing else. So we're sitting there watching WrestleMania 34, and they announced 35 being in New York, and we looked at each other and said, why don't we just go. So we went and that was 2019 and it kicked off this, hey, let's, this is amazing.
Let's start going to more events. So we started sitting ringside for a few events, but then the lockdown came, right? We had front road tickets to WrestleMania before the one that was canceled, the world closed, all that, right? So the world closes and then the numbers get interesting once the world opened back up.
So 2021, they ran the half full WrestleMania for two nights at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where they had like cardboard cutouts of people and you couldn't sit. Next to people that spaced everyone out. It was very surreal. I don't know if you went to any events during that time.
I actually did. I went to a a Brooklyn Nets basketball game and they only had certain sections open. That's true. But y yeah, the spectator part where they had the card cardboard cutouts.
Can you believe we actually lived through that? That's nuts. Yeah, I know. It's wild to think about. Okay, so that's like 2021, right? Yeah. So that's when this whole thing really started since 2021. We went where did we go to Defy in Seattle last weekend? That was show number 102 since the lockdown.
Wow, okay. So in the last four years, let's say. Yeah. It's over a hundred events. Yes. Yeah. And how many destinations do you think? And that's a blend of different cities and countries. So I broke it down by year cities and countries most. So it really took off in 2023, we hit 11 cities two countries.
But then in 2024, we went to five different countries in 17 different cities. Wow. So 2021 and 2022, we went to 25 shows across a couple countries just getting started. And 2023 we hit over 50,000 airline miles. And again, 11 cities, two countries, 2024. We hit a hundred thousand air miles, 17 cities in five countries.
Wow. So you've got are you Delta? Are you Yeah. Yeah. You're a Delta guy, right? Yeah, I am a Delta guy. I'm a Sky Miles guy. But you guys are definitely Diamond at this point, right? Yeah, we did hit Diamond last year in March. February or March, because we went to Perth. Yeah. Oh, that'll do it. Yeah.
That'll do it. Okay. Wow. Okay, so then over a hundred you, you said in that stint, at least 10 different countries. Is that the total or let's see. So us, Canada we went to Wales, we went to Scotland, we went to England. We went to France, Germany, Australia, I think at least seven. Amazing different countries, many different cities, sometimes more than once to the same country.
The, okay, so that's the travel. Yeah. And in terms of what makes you guys unique as well, is that you are in the front row, typically, right? And that is a conscious decision. Yes. Yes, very much because I'm barely five feet tall and I just want to be able to see, I don't wanna happen. I would've guessed that being no constructive view, wanting to be a heel, you'd be at least six foot.
See sadly, no. Okay. That explains wanting to be in the, in, in the front row, but let's talk about that process. Were you like, if we're gonna, so I always say this to a lot of people it is mainly in sports in general. It's unless I'm in the lower bowl to see the game. The best seat is actually at home.
On the actual on your couch. Watching the game itself. When someone's oh, you should go to the Super Bowl, or whatever it is. But I'm a firm believer in that, so if I go to a live event, I wanna be close. Because that is the real experience. And so you guys must have gone through a similar sort of thought process that if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this the right way.
Am I right? Very much I will say we did not set out to travel this much. Okay. We originally thought, maybe not a one and done, but let's just go to WrestleMania and we'll figure it out from there. And we have continued to go to event after event. I, it was a process not only to get from our couch to the front row.
But from our couch to a few rows back. And experiencing that, what's that like? And then, like you said earlier, being able to free up some disposable income to make it to the front row and go through that process. And now we are in this next evolution of where we sit. We still are front row, but we're in different areas.
So typically we are in what's called camera side. It's what on tv. Yep. Lately we've been playing around with being behind the announced desk and experiencing that because you have a different perspective on what the announcers and commentaries are doing, what action spills out in that area.
Still front row though. And then most recently we were able to sit on what's called the friends and family. Or hard cam side, which is typically not as visible on the TV broadcast. And yet again, it provides a different experience because you see things that you don't normally see in other areas around the rink.
And that's something that's a, that makes it really interesting sitting down ringside for us. Not only the view, but every, seeing everything that goes on production wise or all the little details of how they communicate with each other. Things. You don't pick up on TV necessarily, because we're really into the production side of things.
(00:43):
Oh, we are big, how it works and big production. We are big into that. So that's part of the experience for us too. No I completely understand what you're saying. It's it's why I have this podcast in a lot of ways. When people are saying how does that actually work?
How do you get the hotel rooms? How do you get the tickets? What how do these websites work? How do these companies work? It's that little piece that, you know, as fans of anything and everyone's a fan of travel, right? And everyone's a fan of live events. You wanna know, or at least respect the things that, let's say Steve does
in terms of managing these big teams of people to coordinate with sponsors and the different views of the ring and the interview parts. There's so many moving parts. It's just really about respect at the end of the day. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely right. We have so much respect and admiration for what not only the WWE crew has to go through to produce this much.
Content over and over. They have no off season. They are traveling all over the world. The logistics alone, it's just full on respect, full on admiration. And also we have primarily been talking about WWE, but we do go to local shows and other promotions and even seeing the experience of local shows where they don't have a big staff.
It's the promoter, maybe some friends, some wrestling school students, seeing them bringing their desire to get involved, to help out, to set up the ring. Those kinds of things that again, we just have so much respect for. Yeah, no I totally understand. It's interesting to hear about your various parts of the Ring experience.
So that means you guys get on television a lot, right? We do. That is. Also been a wild experience. Matt you have a very distinct look right on, and so it seems that it, when someone sees you on television, they probably gravitate towards you in real life.
I do have a bit of a distinct look for, since this is all audio, right? If you've seen me, I have a giant ridiculous beard that I just haven't shaved in four years. Long story on that, just. Maybe a boring story. I just stopped shaving. Yeah. Did you stop shaving because of wrestling or did you stop shaving just because you're like, eh, I'm over It Z's into it.
That's gonna be our calling card. It wasn't calculated by any means, I don't think. But what is the quick story about the beard? I started maybe 10, 12 years ago, just growing a beard nice and tight. Just short, right? But then the lockdown came and I just let it go. No one's in the office.
No one's going to the office. And it started growing straight, like straight down. It grew out before like bushy. So I would shave it just 'cause I didn't want it growing outward and it would curl in different things. But for some reason, as I got older, it grew straight. Huh? Started to grow straight.
So I'm like, okay. It doesn't look as ridiculous growing straight versus growing in a giant bushy fro style. But, so I just let it go for probably, I think it's been three or four years now, I think. So it's probably down to my chest, I would say. Oh wow. Okay. Got pretty long, a little bit long and unruly.
Yeah. And it's red. And it's red. Yeah. From what I saw on social media it's red, so it's very distinct. Z you've obviously been along on this journey do you get recognized as well? Not as frequently as Matt does.
And what's very interesting is that we have had people recognize him, but they don't recognize me, even though we're always sitting next to each other and we're walking around together. Sure. So when we were at a show in Minneapolis. We heard yelling, somebody was yelling, chief officer, and my Instagram handle is my name, but my description is Chief Bicep Officer.
Because? Because you're Matt And I always flex. Yeah. In photos you're like any wrestling photos we're always flexing. So my, my description is Chief Bicep Officer. We were at the show and we heard folks yelling, chief Officer. Chief Officer Turnaround. There's maybe a dozen fans on a balcony yelling just to say hi to me.
Wow. That was probably the first time fans reached out to me. First recognized me first because all the other times people recognize Matt, they recognize him. Beard guy, ringside, beard because his beard is so distinctive. But I, I see a distinct marketing opportunity to put you guys together with t-shirts and fake beards and all this other stuff where you guys can just take it to another level of making some money.
You know what I mean? Because you spend enough on the travel and the events itself. I think without getting into too much detail, do you guys budget for these events or does it just come up and I guess what I'm getting at is like how much planning goes into it, less and less.
Yes. It's a little bit crazy. It just becomes, it becomes like automatic. We're going, it's done. It became that at first. So let me back up a little bit at, so when we started doing it, it was at a much lower price point. Okay. And during this period, the prices have gone up exponentially. Yeah. Across the, yeah.
In all live events. It has, you're right. Yeah. At all levels. Like just the get in price, the merch price, the front row price, the whole thing has gone up tremendously. But I don't know, maybe it's reckless, maybe it's something else, but we just assume we're going for the, in the meantime this is just something we do.
It's part of our life. We figure out how to make it work. Has it been challenging? More than I can express this. It became, it's a full-time job, a second full-time job. At least, maybe more than that. The amount of work and time and thought and effort we put into it is tremendous. Just to make it happen.
This is why we're here, i, we have an audience of travel professionals, ticketing, live events, professionals, and that's why those guys exist. And so I guess the next question, Matt and Z, is how do you book all of this? Yeah. For tickets, there's usually two avenues. Okay. With WWE, we book through on location experiences, which is W's VIP package service provider.
Yep. Who does a, an amazing job, by the way. They also have the rights to little events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, right? Yes. Yeah. That was a World Cup. Oh yeah. The World Cup that, yeah. That's these guys are experts at what they do from a booking and organizing putting the package together and then executing on the package.
So you guys will go in and buy an amazing experience. That takes up a good portion of the planning, right? You gotta get there. But because you purchased this package through on location, typically, how does the experience start for you?
(01:04):
So I'm just curious, as someone who's never been on one of these before, like, how do they manage you as the guest? As the fan who's it's not a inexpensive package, right? It's a VIP experience. And so how does that process kick off? Yeah. It's evolved over time for us personally.
Yeah. Cause you can buy a package off their website. You can just go there and buy it and pay for it. Yeah. But you guys are a little bit different, right? They, yeah. They treat you differently because of the exposure that you have to a certain degree, right? We have a dedicated sales rep, so for the larger context, on location does provide different package tiers and you can purchase a package at the lowest tier and not have communication or contact with a customer service rep or anyone really.
You can just buy it on the website, call it good. You'll get some communication, you'll receive your tickets to tell you, or so you can get into the venue, where we are usually at the highest level package tier where we've been assigned a dedicated sales rep, which we were assigned a dedicated sales rep, maybe after three packages
four packages when they realized we were repeat Right buyers? You're serious? Yeah. So we were, and there's probably 12 to 15 of us regular buyers. So we're assigned a dedicated sales rep who we are able to communicate with. We primarily text with our sales rep. We'll get the heads up that an event will be going on sale.
We'll receive the package information in terms of the inclusions, of course, the cost, and then get on a call to talk it out, ask any questions, make our decision, yes or no, where are we going? And the answer is usually yes. That's usually like 10 minutes from when he texts us. He'll say, this is going on sale.
Here's what I've got. Let's talk it out. Wow. Yeah. So you guys are cut above. They're like, heads up, we know you guys are coming. So along those lines, you guys have been to, again, over a hundred of these. When that package goes on sale, are there certain inclusions that you just automatically expect?
And are there any inclusions where you're like, whoa that's awesome or that's different? In terms of what we expect? We expect hospitality, which is usually a couple hours before the showtime, and it includes food and beverage. And there's superstar talent meet and greet photo opportunities.
That's a foundational, that is the, yeah. Inclusion. If you don't get that, this is not the value you're looking for in terms of a VIP experience. Yes. And then f and b and meet and greet. Yes. F and b and meet and greet. And then also even just the small touch of a lanyard. So a credential, a lanyard with what's usually the promotional poster for that event. And that lanyard and credential has the package to your name on it. And that's also just one of those basic conclusions that we always expect. There's a standard list. Typically at the tiers, there's usually a similar experience, but in a different venue in a different city.
So there can be some variation there, yeah. Ringside photo is also a standard inclusion that we expect, and that's where we can take a picture. On or not on the ring, but at ringside. So you are on the other side of the barricade.
And so the ringside photo, and sometimes there's also a ramp photo where the talent comes out. We can take pictures there. That gives you that, that special experience you're not gonna get when you just buy the ticket. So you get there early, earlier than anybody else. And then they walk you through to the various locations and you can take photos and then if anything, you might have a meet and greet that's based there too.
And that's a very unique experience. I should to continue walking you through what it looks like once we're on the ground. Yeah. So we're now at the venue waiting for doors to open. On location. Representatives usually meet us at a designated door, so on location at the venue, has a specific door for their package holders to line up at on location.
Staff will meet us, walk us back either to hospitality or towards the ring so we can take our ringside photo, do that, and then if we haven't already been to hospitality, they'll take us back there so we can have our food, and then do the meet and greets with the talent.
Got it. So once that's done, then we'll usually get escorted down to our seats. We'll get seated, get any sort of wristbands for being on the floor or wristbands. That allow us to take our souvenir chair home, ah, afterwards. Then we just wait for the show to start. I think I, in the preliminary to all this, I asked you how many folding chairs you have, but it's gotta be, if you've been to a hundred of these what did you say, Matt?
We have 80 chairs. Yeah. 80. So currently, so that's one each. So out of the 40 you got, I, so at 40 events for 80 chairs, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. Roughly. Yep. Because not all events have chairs. Which experience sticks out the most in terms of the package offerings what was it that just that one sticks out the most as a very unique VIP experience?
For me, it was being able to step out on the WrestleMania 40, which was in Philadelphia. This stage, we were able to walk out and see what it was like to be on the WrestleMania stage as the wrestlers do. We were able to walk through backstage and come out that same tunnel, which is called Gorilla, that they do and experience the vastness of the spectacle that is WrestleMania and that walkout is not an everyday package inclusion.
That is definitely one of those unexpected, once you experience it, you just wanna keep experiencing it. It's like a huge adrenaline rush. Or people are already in the stands too. Yes. Wow. How about you, Matt? Does that stick out as well? Yep. That's exactly what I was going to say. That exact thing of walking out on the stage, it's like it is WrestleMania and you go out on the stage, like I don't know how to describe the feeling vastness the gravity of it.
Okay, this is the biggest stage in this whole crazy world of pro wrestling, and we're standing on it. Yeah. It's wild. Again it's incredible. It's incredible. We've gone to a Super Bowl and we've done other VIP experiences, a MG driving academy, so we've done these high adrenaline events before, WrestleMania and wrestling in general is unlike any other live event that you'll attend.
And there are many reasons for that. One of which. Just that stage, that spectacle, the size, the scope, the amount of fans that are already in the stands when you walk out, it's very hard to describe. You have no words. I take it, so I've had the opportunity to be at a fest on stage at a festival, for a hip hop concert. And it's been maybe there's let's say, let's call it 30, 40,000 people facing me, that's in of itself an interesting experience, but you guys are literally surrounded by 50,000 people, because the ring is the center point, and you're sitting there and you get to look around and just wow, these guys are really on stage. You have to be perfect in what you do because there's just no, no room for any mistakes,
Am I right that, that's the vibe I get because artists talk about this all the time. They're performing on stage and they feed off of the energy of the crowd coming at them. I would think WrestleMania is just like bonkers, right? Like you've got it coming from every single side of you people screaming, yelling encouraging you.
I couldn't even imagine what that must have felt like for you guys as just being super fans, being in the middle of it all. It's why we're going back to Vegas. Yeah. WrestleMania 41 in about three weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah. It was that stage experience where we were still on stage and we looked at each other and we said, we have to do this again.
Yeah. Which we have to, so we'll, we're doing it again. That's amazing. In Vegas. And to, to your point about they, they do this live with their, it's, there's never a net, it's always improvised on the fly. Everyone's watching you in WrestleMania in particular, they have people from all 50 states and literally dozens of countries, I think 40 countries or something who come out to this.
(01:25):
Who travel from all over the world to see it. So I can't imagine the pressure, or the adrenaline or all of it. And they do this night in, night out. And this is WrestleMania is the culmination of all that kind of, it's the championship, right? It's the, it's their Super Bowl. There's this whole thing where people it's happened all my life where I heard, oh wrestling's fake and this and that.
And I, I always I beg to differ like those are real flips and those are real body slams and those are real moves and there's a very high level of skill involved to be able to execute a proper body slam, and that, having that and I don't think it's fake. I don't think it's fake at all.
It's more performance art than anything else where these people are. Masters of their craft they've come up through the various ranks and you can see specific talent. And of course there's all sorts of other things that are associated to that. But again, it comes back to what you guys were saying earlier, it's just a matter of respect not just for the people behind the scenes, but for the performers.
Because whether it's acting or just athletic skill that is the highest level of what they do. Agreed. And you're bringing up a reason why we actually do this. And that's because wrestling, pro wrestling needs advocates. We take our role as fans to mean more than just being fans.
We didn't sit out to do this, but we've turned it into something that is bigger than us pro wrestling. In many ways still has stigma associated with it. Being a pro wrestling fan is not generally cool. And if you bring it up, somebody says, oh, I used to watch that. Is Steve Austin still around? What's Hogan doing?
This is a different time for them. And one of the things we like to do is we have a yellow frame. It's yellow and it has a center cutout, so we're not blocking anybody's view. And around the frame it says connecting people through wrestling. Ah. It's not something we started, it's something our friend Chris Parkhurst started.
We're trying to connect people through wrestling and we get to do that all over the world. And we also try to be advocates for pro wrestling. I've received messages where somebody's desire to watch weekly shows has been reignited because it brings him comfort after a family member passed.
Wow. 'cause he can feel connected to the wrestling family. I've had somebody reach out saying, my partner is really into pro wrestling. I have no idea what they're talking about. Can you please help me? Because they want to better connect with their partner. And that's what we do. We share our love of wrestling.
We share these adventures that we go on, these experiences that we have to really connect folks with each other and to also connect folks with pro wrestling because it's still not widely accepted as being cool is being fun as. Being something that is worth doing and going to events for. What you're touching on is the common theme that I'm hearing in all these fan travel stories episode, and it comes down to one word and that word is community and creating the community around the live event or the brand or whatever it might be.
Then there becomes like a subculture of that. And so it's important for people like yourselves to champion it and be advocates for that community and what it represents around that particular brand. Because as a whole. You have a lot of power, so much power that brands and companies are trying to tap into that mentality and really come off as authentic.
Because what you proven out to, to do is if you're treated the right way and a brand or anybody can say, Hey, I authentically believe in what you're doing you'll spend the money to support that community and to support the, that particular brand. And that's essentially what we're getting at here is that each one of these event producers, they are trying to develop that community and that's what you guys represent.
And so what are some of the unique things about being a WWE e Super fan that you guys would like to share with everybody? As fans, we have fans. And that's the best way I can describe it because other live events generally don't have fans. So even if you are a regular at NFL games, and maybe you're known for how you dress up, maybe people will see you often enough where they point you out or they see you on while they're watching a game and they're like, oh, hey, there's that guy.
I love his outfit. The Raider spikes are on point, right? But you're not necessarily gonna have the opportunity to see him at a game and tap him on the shoulder, ask for a selfie. Fans are, just as important to the whole experience of the event and being able to interact with the fans that is different than other live events.
So we as fans. Have fans, which is very weird to say out loud, but it's true. Matt, with his distinctive look, has people who, we were in Leone, France, there was this one fan who was speechless. He recognized Matt, he wanted to welcome him to France and he was speechless because he had seen Matt so frequently Yeah.
On tv. And he's finally seeing him in the flesh. It's a strange experience. Fame. Yeah. Just 'cause I know we're on TV a lot, but I don't actively think about it. So much. And then when that sort of thing happens, it's oh wow, this is wild. Because I'm a pretty private person. I'll be like I'm not outgoing.
I don't go out much. Z's friends with everybody. I'm. In the background. So yeah, it's, people will come up and ask for pictures, which is just, it's wild every time. You don't really get used to it. It's, I don't mind doing it. I'm happy to do it. Really Hey thanks for welcoming us and me to, to France.
I don't even know if I can articulate it cleanly or correctly the way that it feels. But I think it, it's something bigger. It tells us that people tell us directly that we inspire them or that they wanna do this one day or that they're working on, Yeah. Getting front row tickets one day and that's incredible.
Yeah. I, that, that's incredible. And we take that seriously. Like it's not something I'm using as a point of ego or to boast about, but we're in a position and I take it as a position of responsibility. Almost at this point to do even better somehow. Yeah. You represent the brand, you represent the community
you're almost like I, that sort of pivots into another question. Do, are you guys part of a fan club? Am chuckling Because that's a gap, at least in terms of an official WWE fan club. Mania Club. They were just a group of wrestling fans that came together to really support W'S efforts with the V Foundation and raise money through the wrestling community for pediatric cancers.
But it's not like a formal fan club. And you have these small pockets of Facebook groups of discords that have cropped up organically, but there's no central fan club that WWE sponsors or really any group or organization really spearheads. I do think that Mania Club in 2024 formalized their organization as a nonprofit.
So they're making organizational strides, but it's still mostly on the fundraising and the philanthropy. That's aligned with WWE e got it. I think we, we even talked about this in the prelim, right? There's probably a need for a true fan club where you guys could leverage numbers to one, open up opportunities for other fans to get access to certain tickets or certain experiences,
(01:46):
cause I think I'm talking to the the CEO and the CEO of what could become a, a pretty good business, give that some thought. I'm telling you I'm gonna get a piece of every fake beard that's out there. There you go. There you go.
So you hear, you heard it here first. I think it's the travel. That's right. No I think what you guys are doing are, is honorable and it's really amazing, especially when they don't speak English
yeah. It's the common interest I don't think anybody's ever spoke on behalf of the fans before for wwe, which is pretty unique. So I think one of the questions I had was really about your experience and if you could talk to on location,
what are some helpful hints for fans wanting to book travel and tickets to a WrestleMania.
If I'm a fan that wants to purchase through on location, some tips, one, get familiar with the website and spend visit it regularly, okay? Because A, an event can get announced and yes, right now, WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans is on the on location website.
Stuff changes all the time. So just get familiar with the website. And then if you're a first time buyer, you won't be assigned a sales rep. You'll probably make the purchase online unless you are choosing to purchase the highest tier, which means they will have to connect you with a sales rep. And from there communication.
That'll probably be via email. Ask all of your questions and make sure you're comfortable with the answers you get. If you have a dedicated rep, work with them only instead of the general guest services email. Number one tip. Get familiar with the website. Number two tip, communicate even if it feels like too much.
They can tend to do things, old school, meaning get on the phone and talk to them. I know a lot of people like to just do emails or order online and not talk to people, but there's a huge benefit in getting on the phone and talking to people. If it's the guest services people, a particular sales rep or someone else, talk it out.
Get clear on what you want, and try to get answers to those questions. Any areas of improvement? You guys are vets at booking these type of experiences. ZI know you're a operations professional yourself, so I know you have a lot of respect for what they do to put together.
But I'm just curious if there's any one thing that sort of stands out that says, Hey, this is gonna make every fan's experience much, much cleaner, much smoother before actually it still comes down to communication. So before you're on site for the event day, execution of logistics, seeing more frequent communications from on location to you as a customer would be a big improvement because sometimes you make this purchase and months go by before you hear.
You get another email saying, here's what you can expect and we know to expect this. So that's just how it is, right? If I'm a new customer, I'm gonna be wondering, when am I going to hear from on location? When am I going to get my tickets? When am I gonna get a schedule, an itinerary? And you're just left waiting.
You can make the purchase months go by before you hear something from on location. So that's again, communication before the event even starts. And then similarly on event day logistics at any venue is never the same. They're always different. Every venue is different. You have different staff, you have different, it's just very different.
Different. And there's never enough signage to point you where on location is at. So you all these venues are huge. Vegas has Allegion, that's where WrestleMania will be. Huge footprint. And many times you're left just wandering, literally wandering, looking for where you're supposed to be so again, communication before the event on site.
Even something as simple as on location branded polos to indicate who is a staff member with them. So you know who to go to if you have questions. And those are, again, communications. The big thing for me. Yeah just to, in the transition here signage, that's huge.
Polos with the branding, that's they seem like pretty easy fixes. Z What about you, Matt? What do you think? Yeah, that maybe zooming out from that would be, I help me not think so much. I, if I pay a premium, I'm, my, my hope is that I don't have to think very much.
It's when do I, when and where do I need to be? And that's about it. But when there are those gaps, for whatever reason, and a lot of times there are valid reasons. It's not that they're forgotten or overlooked, it's just there's a lot of variability on making these things happen, right? So if I'm the customer, and I'm always thinking
what about this? Why is this happening? Why isn't this happening? I'm confused. Give me clarity and more absence of thought. Let me worry more about just having a good time. And that can be broken down in dozens of ways, probably. It could be people driven, it could be system driven, process driven, though there's a lot of areas to look at to for that.
But that would be my number one thing. Yeah. No that all makes a ton of sense. Yeah I would've thought that they 'cause well, sometimes it's out of their control. Like sometimes the venues like the ticket thing I hear this all the time. I bought tickets. Don't know when they're gonna be transferred to me, depending on the show and the venue.
If it's Billie Eilish, they're gonna wait 48 hours before showtime to, to transfer you. If it's something else, you might get 'em instantaneous, instantaneously. There's different rules that sort of apply in this, but you guys are both right. There should be more at that level, a lot more communication.
To make sure that you guys feel comfortable with the purchase because it, there, you guys have done this so much. You're right to call out the first timer who's wait a second, I just dropped it. What? And then no one talks to me. And just what I just said there's should be some communication.
Yeah, the lack of visibility and understanding of those processes. Yep. And we understand that on the, it takes a lot of different steps for us to get our ticket, for us to get the package inclusion.
(02:07):
So we understand there's a lot that is outside of on location's control. And we try to be cognizant of that when we're providing feedback to our sales rep about how the experience went. Favorite destination that you traveled through?
With, on location and WE and why?
Okay. In terms of event experience and fan experience, I'm going with Leon France because the crowd is really what made that event phenomenal. The amount of singing and clapping and it was unbelievable. And then in terms of destination, I'm going with Perth because it took 35 hours Wow. From when our garage door closed to when we opened up the hotel room door to get there.
And it's the furthest. It's the ends of the earth. It really is. Yeah. There's no, there was no place like it that we had ever been. And it, you said 35 hours. How long did you stay? Because you had to be there for at least, I don't know, five nights or something to make it worth the travel.
It was six nights. Okay. There you go. Okay. We're usually in and out. We spend 36 hours on the ground in Leon. These are very quick for us, like weekend trips, a lot of the time. Even to Europe. Man, you guys are travel gangsters. I'm telling you. Matt. Favorite destination, favorite event. Leone was isn't my favorite event.
For the same reason the crowd like Leone and the year prior for the same event, the event is called Backlash. They were in San Juan. And the crowd there as well. Just incredible. It's something, there's something you can't describe about being in a crowd that is so loud and into it, just the emotion and the feeling in the venue, like it comes through on the tv.
Although that's loud, it's great. They sound amazing, but what you feel down on the ground is incredible. And as far as the destination, you feel the emotion. Yeah. Yeah. You feel the emotion that doesn't necessarily come through the tv, the just that energy fueled by emotion. I was just sitting there laughing because I didn't know what else to do.
Like it just this overwhelming feeling and laughing. I just started laughing. I don't know why, but it came out that way. You know why Matt? We're Americans, man we're not really trained to be like super fans. Like when you, it doesn't shock me that the crowd in Leone, France who had been, it with their football, soccer teams have been on the verge of violence if they lose. I don't get the same way for the Warriors or for the Niners. I get mad, but I'm not gonna go in Molotov cocktail, someone's car like these guys would. So it's just a different vibe altogether.
And I think it's cultural to a certain degree. And so it's amazing you guys had the opportunity to experience that in these different countries. Amazing. Just amazing. Yeah. What's your favorite destination? Yeah, Matt? Probably Perth. We're actually going back, oh, believe it or not really? I can't, yeah.
I don't know too many Americans who do that trip twice. So it must, why was it your favorite destination, it is like visiting another planet that speaks English. That's good. We, yeah. Yeah. We went on some excursions. Yeah. Just some via tour excursions. Hey, what's there to do around here? So we took a couple hour ride out to this place called the Pinnacles.
And it's like being on the surface of another planet. There are all these giant rock formations everywhere and it's, yeah. All I can say is it's not like being on earth anymore. Amazing. There are other places like that out there that we want to go see that we didn't have time to see throughout Southwest Australia.
So that's part of why we're going back, is to explore some more just because of the unique experience of it all. And we're going back 'cause WWE announced they were going back. Wow. So there you go. Where they go. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I think you are. Great representatives of the WWE Pro wrestling fan community, and so I look forward to seeing more of your adventures online.
And you're welcome to come back to tickets, us to travel, to talk about your experience anytime. So thank you for making time for me today. Thank you. Awesome. This was fun. Thank you. Yeah, it's a lot of fun talking about it.
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