Brian Damage
There was a time not all that long ago (At least it feels that way to me) that house shows were an absolute backbone in professional wrestling. Those days are sadly done and over with. Today, we discuss the demise of wrestling house shows in the era of “media wrestling.”
For those that are young enough and really don’t know what a house show is or was, it was basically a wrestling event which more times than not, were not televised for the masses. Television whether syndicated or on cable TV was used primarily to drum up business for house shows locally. Most of those shows were untelevised simply to get the fans watching the weekly show on TV to go out and spend money to see the action live.
That’s how the promoters made their money. There were no exclusive television rights deals like there are today. The house shows were basically pay per views before there were such things. The big, pay off matches happened on these house shows. Whether it was Ivan Koloff silencing the crowd at Madison Square Garden by defeating Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF title or Barry Windham wrestling Ric Flair to an exciting 60 minute draw…the house shows were the bread and butter for a territory.
The TV shows that you watched locally, were essentially an infomercial for wrestling fans to go out to the local arena or gymnasium and see your heroes face off against the dastardly villains of the squared circle. Shows like Raw, Smackdown and Dynamite are still infomercials but for larger scale events on pay per view. The days of Mean Gene Okerlund interviewing a wrestler after a match to hype up a local show are gone. The days of the Event Center with Sean Mooney running down local shows are DOA. Sure, some house shows were actually televised locally on cable via the MSG network, Prism or NESN…but the majority of fans had to go to the matches to see the stars of the day.
Today, WWE is capitalizing on billion-dollar media rights deals, premium live event partnerships and large-scale productions in major markets. AEW, while smaller than WWE, also bypasses house shows. When business was failing for WCW, Eric Bischoff was one of the first to kill off the house show business model and focus on TV rights.
What made many of the house shows so good, was the feeling that you could get up close to your favorite wrestlers. There was an intimacy to it, especially when they ran in gyms and lodges. The independent shows across the country still offer that experience. If you love wrestling and miss just going to a random house show, promotions like Game Changer Wrestling and other indie events do provide solid entertainment for less money.
Luke
My favorite wrestling in the 21st century is all the unearthed 80s-early 90s WWF house shows. I’ll take a random MSG, Spectrum, Boston Garden, or Maple Leaf Gardens (personal favorite) house show than absolutely any WWE show. I’d love a complete collection of every house show ever taped with commentary. I’m sure there are still quite a few that never saw the light of day.
Now maybe I should read the article…
David Fullam
So miss those days. Loved seeing the guys in Mid Atlantic come out and hype up the show that was coming to town, and the places to get tickets. One of the best matches I ever saw was at a house show. Rock and Roll Express vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA Titles. Just weeks before the Horsemen won the belts, the 4 men went out to the Charlotte Coliseum and put on a PPV worthy main event. The R&R victory led to the loudest pop I had ever heard live. And we had continuity between the House Shows as well. Endings led to new stips for the return match. So wish I had attended more.