NXT turns back fans who had reserved seats

Are people aware of how NXT allows people into their shows? When they started to have their matches at the PC they still require the fans to drive to Full Sail University. In order to be allowed in to a show you need to be on their list. They have a collection of email addresses for fans who want to know when a show is coming up. After you get an email you need to click a link in the email to fill out information for every person in your party that is interested in going. This is first come first serve and I wasn’t quick enough to the last premium live event. I really wanted to attend this weekend so I responded to the email request immediately this week filling out the information for all 4 members of my family. We got 3 individual emails back letting us know the first 3 forms we filled out were accepted. My youngest daughter isn’t the biggest fan so she was ok with staying back and not going to the show. We needed to respond to the confirmation email stating that we were still interested in coming to the show to confirm our seats which we did. We got more emails with updated procedures on Friday with additional requirements to respond to this email to confirm we are still attending.

This email gave us instructions that we needed to park at Full Sail and get in line to take a complimentary shuttle to the PC as no cars are allowed to drive directly to the PC. They told us that we can begin lining up at Full Sail beginning at 6pm but that no one will be allowed in the PC prior to 6:30pm. We live in Tampa and hit traffic along the way making our trip to Full Sail take a little over 2 hours. We left our house at 4pm and arrived at Full Sail around 6:20pm. There was already a long line forming next to some buses so we joined the line. The busses weren’t going anywhere for some time and eventually one bus left. After standing in line for over an hour I started to see texts from people in the PC showing that the stands were nearly full? This was strange. We had reserved our seats and there were many people still in line in front of us. No one talked to the people in line to explain what was happening at this time. We all just assumed we would get to go so everyone was just patient. At around 7:45 after we had been standing in line in a parking lot for almost an hour and a half someone carrying a clip board left the front of the line where they were checking people in to come and tell us there wasn’t any room for us and they apologized. If we wanted to hang out and see if there would be spots later we could but it didn’t look likely. My family was stunned. How could this happen at a company this big? We planned for this event all week. We drove over 2 hours each way simply to watch this show. We responded at least 3 times each by email for each person in our party. Some people in line were dressed up for this Halloween themed event. There were children in line that were crying when it was announced that we would not be allowed to board a bus to go to the show.
My wife asked me if I was mad. I was more disappointed. I was excited for this event. I have loved Halloween Havoc since I was a teen. I felt so frustrated that not only was this experience terrible but that no one seem to care that this group of fans who didn’t make it in was treated like this. I didn’t get home until very late last night but I didn’t see any mentions of what happened to us. I won’t return for any more NXT shows that originate from emails and require standing in lines to be bussed somewhere. I will only attend shows where I can buy my tickets so I can be guaranteed a seat. Maybe if others knew about how we were treated this would get fixed so this doesn’t happen again? I don’t want anything for myself and my family as long as other families don’t have to go through this. If you’ve read my comment until this long thank you. Let’s continue to treat each other with respect and hopefully one day NXT will too.

That sucks, I hate that, but it’s done everywhere, it is called overbooking. To ensure that you are filling 100% of the seats.

Ya this is pretty standard to a free show (Im assuming it was free). TNA did the same thing to me back in 2012, and I’d never go again. I’d just prefer to buy a ticket as you always run the risk of this happening.

Sorry this happened.

Sirius Radio has done this repeatedly for its small concert series which is free and they will blast subscribers who put in for tickets and the email says the tickets are in your name but that just means when you show up your name is on a list and if they have seats you get in. It’s messed up because the alerts go out hours before the show and I’ve known ppl (and saw this in my own experience) who will rush to get there only to be denied.