Day 10 – NXT Takeover New Orleans & House of Hardcore

Day 10 – NXT Takeover New Orleans and House of Hardcore

NXT Takeover New Orleans

It is the 10th day of my journey, and it is also Saturday, April 7th. That means it is time for NXT Takeover New Orleans.

As I mentioned yesterday, I used to book the WWE Travel Package so that I do not need to worry about getting tickets for the shows. However, this year I did not, as I did not want to spent all the money for shows, which I did not want to visit this year. On the one hand side, it makes it a bit less expensive, but also a bit trickier to get tickets. For any reason, it was not possible to get a single ticket. So I had to buy it here.

I got a ticket for Smackdown at the Smoothie King Center box office, but they told me NXT and RAW are already sold out. WHAT? You are kidding! You do not allow people to buy a single ticket only and now everything should be sold out?

Fortunately, there are ticket websites like StubHub where people sell their tickets, and you can buy from them directly, no matter if only one or more. That is how I got my NXT ticket. Somewhere in the 300 sections.

The Smoothie King Center is not that big, so you still can see enough from those sections, especially, in the rows in the front. But, which I have not considered is the fact, that the giant screens which hang from the roof in the middle of the arena and the light installations hang there in a way that you cannot see whether the entrance properly nor any of the screens. Because of that, I had to watch the ring only, which was not very close, of course.

Next time, I should invest a few dollars more and sit somewhere in the 100 sections. That would be best.

My seat was not the best one I have ever had before, but as better the Takeover was. What the hell of a show! The matches were brilliant, the atmosphere electrifying. And the storylines were incredibly strong, especially, the feuds of Ember Moon vs. Shayna Blaszler, Allister Black vs. Andrade Cien Almas, and for the Main Event Johnny Gargano vs. Tomaso Ciampa.

That feud began one year ago, at NXT Takeover Chicago on May 20, 2017, when Tomaso Ciampa turned against his tag team partner Johnny Gargano. Then Ciampa got injured and had to wait until today, to get his hands on Gargano. Till today, the whole story is remarkably intense and emotional. I cannot wait to see what happened next with those two.

Also, the ladder match was genius, with its spectacular moves and spots. The Velveteen Dream, in particular, showcased a lot of dramatic moves from ladders, onto ladders, over ladders. Unbelievable how those guys put their bodies on the line with dangerous and thrilling moves.

House of Hardcore

After the show is before the show. I had one more Wrestling show tonight. Tommy Dreamer´s very own House of Hardcore. It took place at The Sugar Mill next to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. A smaller venue than the Smoothie King Center or the Mercedes-Benz Superdome but not less impressive. A few hundred people found their way to this last show for today´s Saturday. 

It is the first time that I attended a different show on WrestleMania weekend. I always wanted to, but for any reason, I did not get it done. This time it was different. I wanted as much Wrestling as possible. Ok, I have to admit, that there would have been a lot more Wrestling possible, but these are still my vacation, and I did not want to exhaust myself with a too packed schedule.

However, the show was a lot of fun, great matches, with, for me, new faces from the independent scene. Also, a lot of former ECW and WWE performers like the Spirit Squad, Swoggle (a.k.a. Hornswoggle), Carlito, MVP, Billy Gunn, and of, course, as it is his promotion, Tommy Dreamer himself. Even Austin Aries, who just left WWE a year before, had a match tonight.

I loved it to see those guys once again. At least for me, a lot of nostalgia came up in between. Maybe not for those who are more familiar with the independent scene, but for me.

The show itself began about an hour after NXT, so the people who watched the Takeover could do not miss anything about this event. It ended around 2 a.m., and I was pretty tired at the end. 

However, it was worth the money (only 35$) and the time. Next time I will try to attend some different shows besides WWE at WrestleMania week in New York next year.

Well, that was my Saturday! Full of Wrestling as it was supposed to be.

Would you like to experience that yourself? Fill out the form below, and I will contact you to discuss next years WrestleMania! Do you have any comments, leave it under this post! I am looking forward to your thoughts!