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Ahouse show (also commonly called alive event) is aprofessional wrestling event produced by a majorpromotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive during televised events, as well as to test reactions to matches, wrestlers, andgimmicks that are being considered for the main televised programming and upcomingpay-per-views.
House shows are also often scripted to make theface wrestlers win most matches, largely to send the crowd home happy. If aheel defends a title, the face may often win by disqualification, preventing the title from changing hands, which is a very rare occurrence in house show events.
Until the late-1980s, house shows were the main focus of most wrestling promotions, with televised programming primarily being used as buildup for these events. By the 1990s, promotions such as theWWF andWCW began to prioritizepay-per-view events and live weekly television programs, rendering house shows to be mostly minor events with no long-term story significance.
Prior to the 1990s, most televised professional wrestling programs were taped weeks in advance in small studios, and consisted ofsquash matches with"jobbers" being easily defeated by upper-level talent to helppush them, as well as interviews andpromos used to build up storylines and angles that would play out at an upcoming major show at one of the promotion's flagship venues.
With the advent ofclosed-circuit television, and laterpay-per-view, these major supercards became televised events accessible to a wider audience. Later on in the 1990s, the advent of shows such as the WWF'sMonday Night Raw andWCW Monday Nitro saw storylines and angles play out live in an arena setting, including competitive matches between mid and upper-level talent, while both WCW and the WWF eventually began holding pay-per-views on a monthly basis. These shifts lessened the significance of house shows, which largely became non-televised, touring events with no long-term story significance, and used primarily to promote their current talent (especially in markets where televised shows are not as common).
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Since house shows are not televised, promotions do not usually deploy the same setup for staging orpyrotechnics used for their television counterparts. In the past, a WWE house show would consist mainly of a ring, essential lighting, and a crowd.[1] In late 2011, WWE invested US$1.5 million in production improvements, which included threeLED-lit entrance stages (one each forRaw andSmackDown, and one backup)[2] featuring a ramp and video display, and leveraging venues' existing AV equipment for multimedia such asentrances.[1] As of 2021, a new stage was introduced that closer-resembles the stages used by televised shows at the time.[3]
During the firstbrand extension, each WWE tour was exclusive to either the Raw or SmackDown brand. This remained the case through 2012, even after the first brand extension ended in 2011 on televised programming.[4] In 2013, the shows were rebranded as "WWE Live", withNXT house shows subsequently branded as "NXT Live".[1] AfterWrestleMania 38 in April 2022, WWE began to brand house shows held on weekends as "Saturday Night's Main Event" (reviving the branding of athen-former WWE television series) and "Sunday Night Stunner".[5]
Because house shows are not televised, sometimes controversial things occur during them (although this is rare) which might not happen on a televised show. For example, on May 19, 1996, theMSG "Curtain Call", which was also a rare example of ashoot, occurred at a house show taped atMadison Square Garden. At the same show,The Bodydonnas lost theirWWF Tag Team Championship toThe Godwinns.[6]
With the advent ofWWE Network, WWE has televised portions of what are otherwise house shows as hour-long specials on the service, such asStarrcade—an event that shares the name with the flagship pay-per-view of the now-defunct WCW (whose assets were acquired by WWE), andThe Shield's Final Chapter—a special which featuredDean Ambrose's final WWE appearance with his stableThe Shield before his departure from the promotion.[7][8]
Since 2020 and especially since WWE became a subsidiary ofTKO Group Holdings in 2023, WWE has been gradually cutting back on house shows to focus on television tapings. While initially done out of necessity due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, WWE's decision had more to do with cutting expenses as house shows don't make the company a lot of money, as well as to improve thework–life balance of its performers. One negative aspect is that ticket prices for its televised events has skyrocketed to make up some of the lost revenue from scaling back on house shows as well as increased demand for said tickets without house shows as an option.[9][10][11] The reduction of house shows also eliminates many smaller markets who can't support a television taping from hosting any WWE events, forcing fans in those areas to drive a considerable distance to attend a TV taping.[11]
Starting in March 2023,All Elite Wrestling launched a series of house shows under the "House Rules" brand.[12]
Most major promotions try to develop theirangles only during televised shows and will rarelybook a major development (such as a title change) for house shows. House show title changes can occur both togauge how fans would react to a certain outcome, and allow for outcomes that would appeal to local fans—such as Edge winning his firstWWF Intercontinental Championship overJeff Jarrett at a 1999 house show inToronto.[13][14]
If there is a title change, the title usually changes back during the same show or at another show on the loop before another televised event, like several titles changes of theWWE Hardcore Championship or whenBooker T andChris Benoit traded theWCW World Television Championship back-and-forth on several house shows, with Booker (the official champion) always having the title back in time forNitro. Edge similarly lost the aforementioned Intercontinental Championship back to Jarrett atFully Loaded the next evening inBuffalo.[15]
Even rarer is the top title of a promotion changing hands. This has occurred relatively few times, notable occurrences includeBret Hart winning the then-WWF Championship fromRic Flair in 1992 at a live event inSaskatchewan andDiesel winning the WWF Championship fromBob Backlund in 1994 at a live event inMadison Square Garden.
There have also been occasions when title changes occur but are not recognized by the promotion. Some notable house show title changes include an August 10, 1987 match whereThe Rougeau Brothers (Raymond andJacques) won over the championHart Foundation (Bret Hart andJim Neidhart) to take theWWF Tag Team championship in the Rougeau's home town of Montreal. This change (and the eventual "decision reversal") was only ever mentioned during segments taped specifically for and shown in the Montreal market.[13]
Afictional house show can be used to explain a sudden vacation or change of a title caused due to backstage issues on television. For example, on October 4, 1999 edition ofWCW Monday Nitro, the commentators stated thatPsychosis had defeatedLenny Lane for theWCW Cruiserweight Championship on an unspecified house show (thereby giving the title to Psychosis), after WCW management was forced to drop Lane's gimmick that was perceived as offensive by theGLAAD.[16]
The phrase has been used to pejoratively describe WWE pay-per-views intended primarily for specific markets, includingWWE's events in the UK (such asInsurrextion andRebellion),[17] andWWE's events in Saudi Arabia.[18][19] In 2019,Shawn Michaels defended his one-off return at WWE's 2018Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia (reunitingD-Generation X to participate in a tag team match againstThe Brothers of Destruction) despite his retirement, describing the event as being a "glorified house show" that was not as important asWrestleMania or "coming back as the Heartbreak Kid".[20]
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