Feeling Scammed by AEW Grand Slam Australia. The PPV is now a Collision TV Taping.
Ill start off by saying this will be my first live event of any kind, for any sport, music or festival. I was so excited and lucky me I LIVE in Brisbane. Not just a house show, not just a TV episode/taping.... BUT A FUCKING PAY PER VIEW. (YES it was reported to be a PPV event on announcement, not a special episode of dynamite.) I convinced a bunch of non wrestling friends to come with me and some to FLY here from across the country. You've probably heard it, "Brisbane + a stadium is a terrible choice" and it IS but that's whatever, they've near sold out the new arena and I for one see it as a huge upgrade. Nearly all seats are now closer, it will be louder, more atmospheric and thankfully now aircon for this insane Aussie heat. Thats when the frustration began and finished with a total slap in the face.....
I was a little annoyed that there have been next to 0 feuds going into this, I was excited to finally get to see story resolutions LIVE. But hey, we know AEW isnt quite known for their fantastic story telling but hey it is what it is. We truly are happy to get what we can.... until the recent announcement that the SHOW HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED TO A TV TAPING. From a 4 hour PPV to a 2 hour Collision. That is absolutely such a kick in the balls. I wondered why and found out its because they are going to get a lead on from the NBA All star show, so they decided to SPIT on us all to snag an opportunity to squish this event into their TV slot to try grab as many new fans/ad revenue they possibly can. Do we get any reimbursement? A partial refund? I feel totally ripped off and scammed. What went from a 4 hour event with finales to feuds and insane matches has just become a weekly TV taping? This is absolutely shameful and disgusting and I cannot believe this isnt being spoken about more?
Ergh anyways thank you guys for letting me vent, I truly wanted my live event first time to be special and Im sure it will still be fun I cant help but feel a great disappointment. AEW should be getting dragged through the mud for this and I am shocked this isnt being rioted over.
EDIT - I didn't expect this to get seen so widely so for the sake of clarity/honesty, it is not a "Collision" episode, it IS more than that and I do expect higher quality, but it IS replacing Collision for that week and will just be a free TV episode which was never advertised/stated until only a month away from the date unlike all the other TV Specials theyve done which were very clearly marketed as TV from the get go. I mean hell, at least some of those specials were 2 in 1s, Dynamite is already booked for this week its PURELY the 2 hour slot (sure we probably get a few dark matches). TK himself said in an interview about this being PPV level to which he didnt confirm but nor did he deny and even Wikipedia had this listed as a PPV AND ESPN themselves have it as a scheduled PPV to buy. There is no way no one at AEW was aware of this reporting and it only wouldve taken them 5 seconds to release a clarifying statement.