Hall Of Famer Supports Cody Rhodes’ Innovative WWE Idea
Cody Rhodes wants more WWE live events, and a Hall of Famer supports that idea.
In today’s world of WWE, the TKO ownership group has eliminated live events from the schedule aside from the holiday season and a few events per year. That decision was made mainly because WWE makes so much money on their TV/streaming deals, and they don’t need to put talent on the road to make money at live events. It also gives talent more time off.
There are still live events in Europe, as there were throughout January, but compared to the past, the number of live events that WWE runs every year has dropped significantly.
The former 2-time WWE World Champion Cody Rhodes grew up in WWE in the mid-to-late 2000s, when they ran several untelevised live events every weekend, and he learned to work on the road.
Speaking on his What Do You Wanna Talk About podcast earlier this month, Cody Rhodes admitted he made a pitch to management to bring back live events, for at least one weekend per year.
“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.
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 reveal what management said in response, or if there will be more WWE live events in the future.
Eric Bischoff Likes Cody Rhodes’ WWE Live Events Idea
WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff, who ran WCW in the 1990s, supported Cody Rhodes’ idea on his 83 Weeks Podcast.
“[That’s] such a great idea, and it’s really timely. It’s such a great idea. One of the challenges — I mean, look at how much, even when I was in WWE in 2019 for my almost cup of coffee, house shows were a major issue. Like, a bad one.
They were bleeding red ink, just not profitable under the old system of house show routing and the number of events and so forth. So they completely went the other way and put all of their resources into television, much like I did in 1992 or ’93, when I basically forced Bob Dues hand and we shut down all the house shows and only produce TV.
We did it for different reasons, but now you’ve got all of this talent. And Cody put it so clearly, ‘How do you feel like you’re part of anything when the only time you’re together is that TV.’”
As he continued, Bischoff backed up Rhodes’ point talking about how it’s good for the talent to get house show reps by performing in front of a live crowd.
“If you had a monthly house show, as Cody suggesting here. Friday night, Saturday night, maybe a Sunday matinee, perhaps, I don’t know, try it. What’s the worst that could happen? And yeah, you can have your upper middle — not main event necessarily. But you can have your LA Knights making a special appearance. You can have that extremely high level of talent that can be the superstar in that particular show. But you can also call up some people from NXT.
Now granted, the people in NXT, they get to work in front of a studio, but it’s a studio audience. It’s not the same thing. It’s better than no audience in terms of your ability to work the crowd and learn how to get the crowd to react. It’s better than nothing. But it’s not nearly as good as 1,500 people, 2,000 people, 3,000 people that spent their money just because they wanted to come see you perform. And it’s a different crowd. It’s a different environment.
And to Cody’s point, talent needs those reps too. Not just reps in front of a studio audience, not just reps on Netflix, or not just reps on USA and television. They need those house show reps.”
Cody Rhodes picked up a big win on WWE SmackDown this past Friday when he qualified for the Men’s Elimination Chamber match at the Elimination Chamber PLE. Rhodes is now win away from getting a WWE Title match at WrestleMania 42.
The next WWE PLE is Elimination Chamber on February 28th in Chicago. Here’s the lineup so far:
* World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk vs. Finn Balor
* Men’s Elimination Chamber Match: Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. Cody Rhodes vs. 3 more wrestlers
* Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch vs. AJ Lee
* Women’s Elimination Chamber Match: Rhea Ripley vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Alexa Bliss vs. 3 more wrestlers
You can watch WWE Elimination Chamber, streaming live on Saturday, February 28, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN in the United States and Netflix everywhere else.