Robert L.
Yelp
Worst Viewing Party I've ever attended.
I went to see Wrestlepalooza on ESPN. When I arrived, I was told you had to ticket in advance (something I don't remember seeing on the Facebook event, but that could be my fault), except the 20 free tickets were all sold out. However, there were 10 VIP tickets, which included preferred seating, unlimited food and drink, for just under $50. I figured ESPN would have set me back $30 for the event, so $20 for "unlimited food and drink" seemed reasonable.
Boy was I wrong.
"Unlimited drink" was beer. I don't drink beer. I asked for a Dr. Pepper and was told "It's really hard to find Dr. Pepper in a bar." It isn't, actually. I order it all the time. The bartender opted to cut me a break and make me a drink that wasn't on the approved menu; this is the only reason this review isn't one star. This was also the only drink I had on the night; despite the fact that there were no other customers in the bar up until the point I left (other than one guy shooting hoops), they refused to provide service in the room - you had to come to them, which was a bit of a walk.
The room the screening was in felt like a storage room. You had to get past unplugged, unused machines to get to the room, which was only lit by the projection image and difficult to navigate in the dark. If you take a look at the attached photos, the route to the "VIP seats" is on the right, around the edge, through a stanchion which you have to open yourself, in the dark.
Note the setup in the photos attached.
"Unlimited food" was a stack of personal pizzas they ordered in from pizza hut, which arrived around the start of the first match and were immediately gone. The only options were pepperoni, cheese and buffalo chicken. There was no other food provided during the time I was there. They brought in what looked like a small wire tray of something as I was leaving, but even if that was food, that's over an hour and a half between options. "Unlimited food."
So here's the big problem.
The stream was unwatchable. The signal hung on a regular basis, leaving a frozen image on the screen. Others were checking ESPN on their phones and reporting back as to how far behind the live broadcast we were. By the time something changed (more on that in a minute), we were a full ten minutes behind live (this means we'd had ten minutes of frozen screen time during the pre show and the end of the first match), and we jumped from the commercial break before the second match to just before the finish of the second match (Usos/Vision).
This is the point where the bar opted to switch to run the event off of the hotspot from some guy's cellphone.
Please note the closeup of the chromebook with said cellphone in the foreground.
During the first match, the guy next to me (who was not wearing a VIP wristband but still seated in the VIP section), got up from his seat next to his companion and left. The bartender who had helped me came back with him, and together they started fiddling with the chromebook, which interrupted the image and the signal even more. I watched them perusing the WiFi signal list (which is why I included my own screenshot of this list) and discovered we were on the open, public network "TheNerd."
Let me reiterate: WE WERE ON AN OPEN, PUBLIC NETWORK THAT IS LOCATED AT THE SOUTH END OF FREMONT STREET, AN AREA THAT IS HEAVILY TRAFFICKED BY THE PUBLIC, AND THESE PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY WOULD HAVE THE BANDWIDTH TO CARRY A LIVE STREAMING SERVICE IN HIGH DEFINITION.
The bartender and the guy switched us to "DORK KNIGHT HOTSPOT," which improved the broadcast for a short time... except when guy went to pick up his phone, use it to record the screen, and send that footage elsewhere.
See, the third match on the card was Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky, and BOY, did this guy make it known how much he liked Stephanie Vaquer's ass. I don't know whether he was talking to me or to his female companion... but it made the match, the one I was most looking forward to (yes, both Sky and Vaquer are attractive - but they're also the best workers on the card), even more unbearable.
As this match, the third of five matches on the card, the hangs in the stream increased to every 15 to 30 seconds.
Once Vaquer won the women's title, I opted to leave. I couldn't do this to myself for another hour.
AT NO POINT WAS THE EVENT STREAM ON "NERD-PRIVATE."
I went to the bar; I figured I was probably leaving, but maybe I could get a partial refund or another drink to gain some value to the event.
I tried to bring the problem with the signal to the bartender's attention. I was told that DORK KNIGHT HOTSPOT guy WAS a VIP, despite not having a wristband, as he was a friend of the owner.
There was no owner or manager on property for an advertised event - the entire thing was in the hands of these two bartenders.
I was told "This is only my problem for ten more minutes," and "No refunds."
I won't ever set foot in The Nerd again.