Last night, All Elite Wrestling held a taping at the MVP Arena for AEW Collision, the wrestling company’s Saturday evening two-hour show of grappling and action. Normally the show airs live, but lately AEW has started pre-taping events so as to give their talent a better work schedule and easier travel. Plus, they can also tape matches for AEW’s sister wrestling company, Ring of Honor, on the same arena shows.
I purchased my ticket for Collision two months ago, and was prepared to sit in the first row of the elevated seats. Most of the good floor seats were already claimed by early purchases, and I didn’t see any benefit of paying extra for the “VIP” experience (which would have provided me with a special pre-admission entrance to the venue, the chance to meet several wrestlers, and a bag full of AEW swag).
Nah. I’m good. Let me watch the event, get a few photos, and I’m a happy camper.
6:30 p.m. The line to enter the arena begins to move. To enter the MVP Arena for any event, you must pass through a metal detector – take your phone and keys and wallet out of your pockets and hold them above your head as you pass through the magnetometer – then go to a second checkpoint and have your Ticketmaster-branded ticket scanned for entrance.
Beep – someone in front of me goes through.
Beep – another person in front of me goes through.
I hold up my phone. The attendant uses a laser reader to check my phone’s barcode.
Instead of a beep – I bet a blurp.
“I’m sorry, your ticket has been blocked,” the attendant said to me.
Blocked? What do you mean, blocked? I paid for the ticket months ago, and I endured dozens of Ticketmaster spam emails reminding me about the upcoming event.
Then I remembered … there’s a new Ticketmaster scam where criminals try to circumvent Ticketmaster’s ticket policies and swipe customers’ tickets right out of their phones. I tell you, if someone tried to swipe my tickets for this wrestling match, I’m gonna go to the locker room, find Mark Briscoe, tell him what happened, then he and I are going to find the schlub who did this, and he’s going to give that schlub a Froggy Bow and a Jay Driller and maybe even some redneck kung fu.
“Go to the box office,” the attendant said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll be very happy when you get there.”
Oh, this better be good.
Okay. Down two floors to the box office. I show the box office attendant my cell phone, with the ticket number still live and visible.
“Oh, yeah, your ticket got blocked,” she cooed. “They had to re-adjust the stage and entrance for the show, so your seat actually got put behind a screen. So anyone who had tickets behind that screen have been moved to better seats.”
She handed me a paper ticket and winked at me. “I think you’ll like this ticket.”
Okay. Back up the two flights of stairs. Handed the ticket to the attendant.
“Floor level, row A,” she said.
Okay, floor level. That’s closer than where I was originally located. Now where’s row A?
I found an usher. He pointed to the front row – right against the barricade that separates the wrestling ring from the first row of seats. “You’re sitting there,” he smiled.
Wait … I’m sitting in the front row?
IN THE FRONT ROW OF THE WRESTLING MATCH?
As in … if Mariah May flies over the barricade and lands in my lap, I can take her home like she’s a home run ball at Yankee Stadium? That close???
Yeah. THIS close.
Yeah, kids. THIS close.
In fact, I was so close to the action, that I was able to capture some very high-detailed shots from the event. Like this shot of luchador Kommander.
Kommander was in a match against Shelton Benjamin, and trust me – Shelton Benjamin has muscles on top of his muscles.
At one point during their match, Shelton Benjamin and Kommander were outside the ring, right in front of me. Shelton grabs Kommander by the waist, and then looks straight at me.
“Move.”
I backed up.
Shelton Benjamin then lifted Kommander up and flung him into the barricade, right in front of me. He picked Kommander’s limp body up from the ground, and tossed him into the barricade again. And again.
Yeah. THAT close.
Close enough that I could high-five Big Shawty Lee Johnson as he entered the ring for his match.
Close enough that I could shout insults at Preston Vance and he could shout them back at me. I reminded him about his time wrestling in a faction called the Dark Order, where he wore a mask over his face and called himself Dark Order No. 10. “They want you back in the Dark Order,” I said.
Preston Vance looked at me and said, “I know they do. They’re nothing without me.”
Another person told him he should put the old No. 10 mask back on.
“Why?” he barked. “Do you think I’m ugly?”
Great stuff.
I even got a nice close-up view of a “no holds barred, falls count anywhere” match between Anna Jay and AEW Women’s World Champion Mariah May. And yeah, that match had plenty of plunder.
Close enough that I could watch a tag match between two of AEW’s homegrown stars, Anthony Bowens and “Platinum Max” Caster (the Acclaimed), going up against Rush and The Beast Mortos. By the way, this is what The Beast Mortos looks like. Yes, he wrestles with that mask on. Yes, that’s a mask. It’s not his real face. At least I don’t think it’s his real face, I’m too chicken to ask him.
And in the end … after two hours of AEW Collision and two hours of Ring of Honor matches …
Look who I found after the show … he was signing autographs and posing for selfies with the fans.
So I asked him for a photo, and he obliged.
That is AEW’s big man, Tony Khan. His family owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. His family owns the soccer team Fulham FC. And he owns All Elite Wrestling.
How ever-loving cool is this?
What I thought would be a wrestling show with a few hours of action and a trip home turned into a front-row experience that I will never forget.
And if you’re looking for me on Saturday’s AEW Collision broadcast (8pm Eastern on TNT) …
I’m in the front row. Look for the guy in the checkered shirt.
You’ll definitely see me – I’m the one running for cover after Shelton Benjamin tosses Kommander into the barriers.
Chuck The Writer 
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