Backstage News On How WWE Talent Feel About Return Of House Shows For European Tour
It's true what the "Never Seen 17" John Cena said this past Friday on "WWE SmackDown," and it's that the fans hold the key to this industry. For quite some time, house shows were the backbone of connectivity between the WWE Superstars and their fans as it provided a source of establishing a more personal and intimate connection compared to their televised events. However, house shows are few and far between now, as costs, scheduling, and keeping wrestlers healthy play a pivotal role in why WWE has scaled back on its non-televised shows.
Right now, WWE has temporarily brought back house shows as part of their European tour that concludes in Paris, France on Monday. To promote tomorrow's Clash in Paris PLE, WWE stars from the main roster have been appearing and wrestling for multiple venues across Western Europe, which remains to do big business for the company. But to many on the current roster, the thought of working non-televised shows might seem a little foreign. When interviewing stars who are working this current European tour, Fightful Select was met with mixed bag reactions as to whether or not they enjoy working these additional shows compared to what they've been accustomed to recently.
One longtime talent, who remained anonymous in this report, said they prefer the new schedule, but recognize how special these house shows are to fans who don't live near big cities where WWE hosts most of its televised events nowadays. "I don't miss house shows at all. They're fun to wrestle on, but the current method is much better," the longtime talent said. "It makes sense that they still do them here and there, and it makes them much more special." Another talent mentioned how the atmosphere at house shows is much different than televised ones, stating that having these shows cut effectively by two-thirds made them even more special, and enjoyable to work.
WWE will host a holiday tour of live events in December in the United States. However, after that, there have been no talks by the WWE higher ups on if they plan to accelerate house shows outside of overseas and international trips, as of this report.