Plans to still improve Shock N Awe after 10th-anniversary show goes down a storm at Portsmouth Guildhall

Gareth Johnson celebrated Shock N Awe 30 as the best event he’s put on.
A fighter walks to the cage at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Shock N AweA fighter walks to the cage at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Shock N Awe
A fighter walks to the cage at Shock N Awe 30. Picture: Shock N Awe

Now the challenge is to continue to make improvements after selling out Portsmouth Guildhall.

The south coast’s premier mixed martial arts event celebrated its 10th-anniversary last month.

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It was a bumper 30-fight card which went down a storm with the 2000-plus packed inside the venue.

Having hosted previous shows at the likes of the Pyramids Centre and Mountbatten Centre, Johnson feels he’s got the perfect set-up in the Guildhall.

And with Shock N Awe 31 taking place on March 28, 2020, the promoter will up the production that’ll add to the experience of those in the audience and watching on pay-per-view.

Johnson said: ‘It easily felt like the best show we’ve put on.

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‘We’ve used several venues across the area like the Pyramids Centre, the Mountbatten Centre and now the Guildhall.

‘It always takes shows time to settle in but we have. Now what I want to do is improve.

‘I’ve got the show how I want it and everyone was full of compliments on the night and enjoyed it.

‘That was key for me because that’s why we started Shock N Awe – for the people watching and the fighters. That paid dividends for me.

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‘From a spectators point of view, there isn’t a lot we can improve on. Now we’ll be upping the on-the-night production so adding slow-motion replays on top of all the graphics we had.

‘We had fully-animated graphics such as the tale of the tapes, intros and outros, while on the pay-per-view there was a lot more presenting from the commentary team.’

While Shock N Awe 31 is more than four months down the line, planning is well under way. 

Johnson added: ‘We’ll be adding to our production again and already looking at some big, big fights. We're going to raise the bar like we always do.

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‘Then we’ll carry on with the high volume of fights because I think everyone got high value for money.

‘We’re already full steam ahead for the March event and still promoting this show because we had our biggest pay-per-view sales.

‘We sold to 18 countries and that’s double our previous best.

‘That’ll be another thing we’ll concentrate on. Once you sell out the Guildhall, there’s nowhere else to go because we have the best venue.

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‘So we’ll be building on that pay-per-view and that’s why I’ll put more into the production value.

‘Then I’ll keep making sure it's a good show for everyone there in person and everyone watching at home.’