Time To Reinvent House Shows

 During Wrestlemania Weekend, AEW hosted their very first house show "The House Always Wins". Back in 2019 Cody Rhodes made a statement that implied AEW would likely never run house shows. He also said AEW wouldn't hold events during WrestleMania weekend, but that's another blog for another day. Of course the world changed with the pandemic requiring business models to change. Now, AEW held their first house show and from what I've heard was a enjoyable successful show. WWE recently held a conference call and mentioned they plan to start touring before the end of the year. MLW recently announced a return to the 2300 Arena in July.

Before the pandemic besides the WWE, none of the other promotions with name value really ran house shows on an consistent basis. Impact may have ran some here and there in addition to TV tapings, MLW and ROH really only did their TV tapings. WWE was running house shows every weekend and every year the attendance of these shows were declining. 

I understand the benefit of House shows, wrestlers who need more experience in front of larger audiences can get more reps. New gimmicks and personas can be tested in front of an live audience with kinks in presentation worked out before they make it to TV. Wrestlers who dont work with one another often can feel one another out and build chemistry.

House shows have benefits but they are also perceived as easily skippable by many fans. With the world slowly opening up and things return to a new sense of normalcy, more people will be looking forward to events that allow them to be out and about. I think all promotions would benefit from running house shows once a month, and making these house shows mini TV events minus extra costs like pyro. 

Easier said than done, but house shows need to become experiences and have fans feeling like they cannot miss these events. Some suggestions would be surprise guests use the indy promotions tactics and  bring in legends who have history or live in a particular a city or possibly live near a major city for a segment. Reward fans who love wrestling in general by bringing in the top independent wrestlers in the area for matches. They could challenge for a secondary title, everyone knows they will lose. However it rewards fans, it rewards the independent wrestler, and it could create buzz wrestler A of this promotion nearly defeated TV champion. This tag team from such and such indy league took the tag champions to the limit we need to keep an eye on them, it gives off the anything can happen mentality.  Maybe have more photo op opportunites before the shows, and not that overpriced WWE ringside fan package. Shows that are not super long pushing the four hour window and other things that you just wouldnt see attending a TV taping. 

I've heard when AEW starts running more frequent house shows, they plan to incorporate storylines into these events as well. That could give fans even more of an incentive to attend these shows because they may see a title change they know will be acknowledged on television. 

I think there is absolutely a  market for house shows, besides aiding wrestlers with character development and improving their skills. Experienced wrestlers are allowed to be a bit looser with interacting with fans and their presentation.  It also provides fans an opportunity to see live action wrestling, especially in smaller cities that may not necessarily get TV tapings. I don't have all the answers on how the house show experience could be improved.  One thing is for certain though, the concept of house shows needs to be reinvented to be worth people's hard earned money.