Cody Rhodes Admits To Pitching Significant Idea To WWE Management
Cody Rhodes has made it public that he pitched an idea to WWE management to allow wrestlers to have matches more often.
In the TKO era of WWE, one of the ownership group’s significant changes was to cut back on non-televised events. Due to how much money WWE is making from Netflix, ESPN, NBC/USA Network, and other outlets, the money made at a live event is small compared to those television/streaming deals.
The non-televised events, commonly referred to as “house shows” in pro wrestling, were something WWE used to do a lot of. In a typical week, a wrestler might compete in three house show matches before they head to Raw on a Monday or after a SmackDown show on a Friday.
A typical WWE month features just Raw and SmackDown tapings for talent, along with a PLE once a month, most of the time. In January of this year, WWE superstars had many more live events because they were part of a European tour, but that’s not typical anymore.
As a 20-year veteran pro wrestler who spent his first decade in WWE working a full-time schedule with many live events, Cody Rhodes has openly stated that he wants WWE to run more live events because it’s good for the talent to get reps in front of a live crowd.
On a recent episode of his “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” with Jey Uso as a guest, Cody Rhodes brought up the WWE live events and why he supports having them.
“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.
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.”
Cody Rhodes Made Suggestion To WWE Management About Running Live Events
In the past, when WWE live events were the norm, they held them nearly every weekend, and sometimes even when there was a PLE on Saturday or Sunday. While Cody Rhodes likely knows that’s never going to happen again in today’s WWE climate, he suggested a solution: just one weekend a month of live events.
“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.” (H/T F4Wonline)
As they continued talking, Cody Rhodes didn’t reveal how WWE management responded to his suggestion. Jey Uso admitted that the live events are fun for the wrestlers, and he missed wrestling as often as he did on the old schedule.
Looking at the WWE calendar on the company website, there is only one non-televised live event scheduled in February and March. That’s a live event in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday, February 14th, one day after SmackDown in Dallas on February 13th.