Cody Rhodes reveals house show pitch he made to WWE
Cody Rhodes misses the old WWE house show schedule — and he’s even made a pitch for the company to get back on the road more often.
In recent weeks and months, Rhodes has expressed several times how beneficial he feels live events are for wrestlers. He spoke about the subject again on the latest episode of “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” and revealed that he once made a pitch for WWE to bring back one house show loop per month.
“I had suggested some of the top brass in the company for a myriad of reasons: camaraderie, the reps, the general sense of working here,” Rhodes said. “It’s hard to think you work somewhere if you’re only there a couple of days a week, right? Versus the schedule for when we first started, where it was full tours, live events, then you come to TV, and then you’re home less time…
“I had suggested to them, I said: run one weekend a month, call them house shows, make them almost — poke the fourth wall a little bit in terms of what they are. They’re canon, but they’re not. You’re going to see some of the stuff you see on TV, but it’s going to be a bit more of a mixed bag. And maybe you’re going to see some people you’ve never seen before who are getting their first rep in front of you. Run them that way where there’s an intimacy to them that’s advertised. ‘This is a house show. That’s what you guys are getting, and it’s going to be awesome.’ They’re so fun, so fun.”
Rhodes did not say how WWE responded to his suggestion. He admitted that, if implemented, we could look back in a year and think this was a bad idea. But he does believe it would help create a team-like feeling in WWE and keep the roster in a rhythm by wrestling more often.
Jey Uso was the guest on this “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” episode. Uso agreed that house shows are really fun for wrestlers and said he misses wrestling as often as he used to under the old schedule.
WWE does still run some house shows, though they are usually on international tours. Domestically, WWE still holds its annual Holiday Tour during the Christmas season every year.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.