Cody Rhodes Explains Pros & Cons Of WWE Decreasing Live Events
Cody Rhodes has given his thoughts about what’s good about WWE cutting back on live events and what’s bad about it.
It was announced recently by TKO President Mark Shapiro that WWE plans on reducing the number of live events that they would run on an annual basis.
While WWE ran over 300 live events in 2023, that number will be closer to 250 live events this year and Shapiro made it clear that there will be about 200 live events in 2025, which means a drop of 100 live events in just two years. The cut will come in untelevised live events (also known as house shows) since obviously Raw, Smackdown & NXT will continue to be on every week.
The reality is that live events, even if they are profitable, aren’t that profitable in the long run, and with WWE signing massive deals like moving Raw to Netflix, they don’t need to do untelevised live events just because it was a thing of the past in the pro wrestling business.
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan recently expressed her sadness with WWE cutting back on live events because she enjoyed how much fun they were to be a part of.
As the Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes prides himself on appearing at WWE live events where he can be seen defending his title whether it’s an event in the US or on an overseas tour.
When asked about WWE reducing the number of live events they run in a year by Josh Martinez of Superstar Crossover, Cody Rhodes began talking about the pros (or positives) of the decision.
“Pros and cons. Pro is more time for rest and recovery. Modern WWE with all the medical protocols that exist, in terms of to have the best nutrition, to have the mental clarity and focus to be dialed in physically, we still very much are a, I guess toxic to a degree, there is a vanity element to professional wrestling and sports entertainment.”
“In terms of everyone’s preparation, that’s a good thing. In terms of being able to get that mental clarity and getting your time at home, but also be able to be locked in on work. To be able to get the best nutrition, the best recovery, especially.”
Cody Rhodes Will Miss Competing In The Ring As Often Due To WWE Cutting Live Events
The discussion continued with Cody talking about the cons (or negatives) of the WWE live event cutbacks although as you can see here, he thinks overall it’s a positive thing.
“The con for me is I only get better at wrestling by wrestling. That’s a con for me. How I can mitigate it is that I have the Nightmare Factory where we can wrestle and do things and train. Training for wrestling, I never believed in wrestling schools growing up because the only way you can really do wrestling is by wrestling in front of an audience. You have to do it in front of an audience.”
“That will be a challenge for me because I feel like I’ve slid into the prime of my career and I feel really great, but I know if I take some steps back in terms of that, I’m going to have to mitigate it some way. I’m going to have to find, ‘How do I train for this if I’m not able to do Saturday-Sunday house shows heading into Monday Night Raw.'”
“I think the majority of the locker room and roster probably looks at it as a great thing, and from a company standpoint, business-wise, it makes the shows when they do come to your city more special versus just being a given. It’s mainly pro across the board, I just have to find a way to keep the wrestler in me wrestling.”
Regarding the look of the WWE Title, Cody Rhodes has made it clear he still wants the Winged Eagle design to return even though it hasn’t happened yet.