Shining a Spotlight 01.19.12: House Shows

Posted by Michael Weyer on 01.19.2012

A look at how house shows can still provide some great entertainment that TV tapings can't.

Always interesting when I'm hit with two ideas for a column in the same week. I think I'll go with the one that's a bit more timely. An interesting development in WWE this weekend as on Sunday Primo and Epico defeated Air Boom to win the WWE tag team titles at a house show in Oakland. Obviously, Bourne's suspension (and it always sucks when a guy so talented falls prey to some stupid habit) is the reason although the timing is interesting. It's generated a lot of confusion as to why WWE would do this at a small show rather than just wait a night on RAW. I've seen some people sniff that this proves WWE doesn't care about the division anymore but to me, this shows an actual respect for tradition. Because as much as some fans forget, doing big stuff at a small show used to be a big thing for wrestling.


Olden Days

As hard as it is to believe, there was once a world without television. House shows weren't just part of the wrestling business, they were the business. You could do advertising and radio but the territories mostly survived on word of mouth and reputation to keep their shows going with fans. The rise of TV changed all of that, allowing promoters to let fans know about shows and give their workers more face time. It was usually house shows when a title would change hands, TV cameras usually on the scene to catch it but fans then not often realizing how huge this was when the night started and that added to the excitement and the "you have to see this" feeling. However, it was still local stuff, the territories on their own, most doing stuff from the exact same arenas before the same crowds. That all changed when Vince McMahon began his grand expansion and suddenly, you had a company putting on shows from one coast to the other.

I'm dating myself a lot here but I still remember growing up and watching the weekend WWF shows with special promos shot for upcoming shows in Chicago. They'd take the time to have the various stars talk about these specific nights and who they'd be facing, making this small show seem like a big deal. It really made the local fans feel a bit special to see guys like Hogan, Piper, Savage and others talk about bringing their personal feuds to the area, making this show sound like a really big deal you just had to check out. I remember attending a couple of them and in the days before you could watch guys on prime-time every week, it was a really huge thing to see these big stars up close and wrestling. It was almost a football game atmosphere, selling programs and such, picking up merchandise and just having a good time. While most shows were standard, there was always that feeling, that maybe, just maybe, you might see a title change hands or such.



As good as WWF was, Crockett was better when it came to the house shows. Ric Flair has often stated that if Crockett had just stuck to the South, where he was established, he'd still be in business. He has a point as the people there ate up the NWA/WCW product with a spoon. Flair was a master of putting on fantastic business at the house shows, he and Barry Windham tearing down the house in 1987 with hour-long draws. Flair even did great business in singles matches with tag guys like Ricky Morton and Road Warrior Hawk, making fans really believe these guys had a shot at winning the title. It really took off in 1985 when Crockett came up with the Great American Bash, linking house shows together for a great banner to give the shows more push.

Of course, things bit Crockett bad when he tried to go head-to-head with Vince in '88. His idiotic decision to do a cop-out finish for the big Flair-Lex Luger encounter at the '88 Bash PPV was because he wanted to promote house shows with Luger trying again. It was that short-sighted booking that led to Crockett taking a fall, unable to see the business was changing and the rise of more TV shows (like his own Clash cards) meant the house shows were no longer the bread and butter. When WCW took over, business took a severe dip following Flair's firing as they'd be lucky to pack a couple of thousand people into arenas that were sell-outs years before and soon reduced to doing weekend tapings out of the Disney-MGM Studios.

WWF went on with house shows and in the early ‘90's, used it for quite a few title changes. That began in 1992 when Vince wanted the Legion of Doom to drop the tag titles to the Natural Disasters but they refused to lose on TV and didn't think the Disasters ready. So, Vince compromised by having them lose the titles to the surprise team of Ted DiBiase and IRS. It was meant to be a brief thing but then Money Inc winded up clicking so well, they dominated as champs for much of '92 and early '93. When the Steiner Brothers joined the company in '93, WWF realized they had gold on their hands and used it as in the space of a single week, Money Inc and the Steiners traded the belts three times with the brothers eventually winding up with the gold. It was a break from the old mantra "if it didn't happen on TV, it didn't happen" as WWF would talk about Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett swapping the IC belt a couple of times in 1995. It was pretty exciting hearing it all described as you realized three times crowds were seeing a major event happen before them and made you want to check out a show yourself just in case something else big happened.



Modern Days

As with most things in the business, the Monday Night Wars changed a lot for house shows. With WCW and WWF going head to head every week, not as much emphasis was placed on the house shows and that especially grew when WWF added "SmackDown" to the list. WCW still kept to it and in 1998, they did a big thing where Booker T and Chris Benoit traded the TV title five times in a week. It was fun for the folks at those shows to feel they'd seen a big event. Of course, WCW would blow it as they often did by completely ignoring the changes on TV, not mentioning them at all so the fans at the shows felt gypped and led to bad feelings for the company. It was another black eye at a time WCW had too many of them. ECW was smart to have "fan cams" for house shows so when something big happened, they could show it on TV, a nice way to have your cake and eat it too.

Since WCW went down, WWE hasn't put as much emphasis on their house shows due to having two TV shows every week and a PPV every month. Their tours sadly get more noise for when something happens like the disastrous 2002 plane trip or JBL's Hitler bit in Germany. Most fans seem more interested in waiting for a taping to see things, wanting to see something really big happen rather than a show that's mostly routine. But the shows can be home to fun stuff like Zach Ryder impersonating the Ultimate Warrior, complete with music and outfit. Or a fun recurring bit where a heel like Dolph Ziggler will eat the finishers of a half-dozen different faces. More importantly, they can feel a bit looser than a TV taping as without having to stuff so many angles into things, the workers really have time to put on good matches with plenty of time and always do their best to entertain the folks in the stands. You'd be amazed how much better a three-hour WWE show is when you don't have to listen to Michael Cole or constant backstage stuff or guest hosts and that's a great selling point for fans to want to check one out.



TNA hasn't done as much touring due to less money and stuck to the Impact Zone for most of their run. But branching out has been a good idea, especially as the Impact Zone is a non-paying audience. TNA has shown via their touring that they don't have to rely just on that studio crowd, fans will come to see the product. They've also added to it with fun stuff like the BFG Challenge series, awarding points for small matches so the cards have more importance and push. While TNA is smart to not tour too much and too far, they have proven fans will like the product in places besides Orlando. ROH bounces a lot around the East Coast but also expands to Chicago, providing fans with hot action and given their low TV presence, it means something big can happen at any time and fans will want to see it live.

That's always a push for house shows and something WWE has sparked here with this title change. The idea of them not waiting for a PPV or "RAW" to do something big is something that can get fans interested in buying for a local show. Given the rough economy, fans haven't been able to turn out as much as expected for something non-televised so this might be a fun idea to get more interest and hook folks in. House shows move a lot of merchandise for the company, especially kids, which is a core audience WWE targets now. For TNA, it's more important as it provides revenues the Impact Zone doesn't and proves the company can stand on its own terms. ROH needs it far more with their limited TV presence but no matter the company, a house show still has charms TV doesn't. It's not as much frantic with bells and whistles as a TV taping is and the workers can be free to show off a bit more. They may not be the lifeblood of the business anymore but a house show is still a vital component for wrestling and this week shows that even WWE hasn't totally forgotten how to give these local fans a big turn to make the wrestling experience worthwhile.

For this week, the spotlight is off.