Tony Schiavone Laments The Decline Of Wrestling House Shows

AEW announcer Tony Schiavone has voiced his concerns about the diminishing role of non-televised house shows in professional wrestling, calling them “one of them lost arts” during a recent episode of his popular podcast “What Happened When.”

The AEW broadcaster’s comments came during a watchalong of a recently unearthed WCW house show from Manchester, England in 1993, which was discovered and uploaded to the WWE Vault YouTube channel. The footage provided a nostalgic backdrop for Schiavone’s reflections on how the industry has evolved over his four-decade career.

I’ve done a lot of house shows as ring announcer. There was obviously a different vibe to a house show on many levels. Of course, with the cameras there, the guys are thinking, ‘This could be televised, so it’s not like a real house show.’

House shows, the non-televised live events that were once the backbone of professional wrestling promotions, have significantly decreased in number across major companies in recent years. AEW runs considerably fewer house shows than WWE did during its peak years, while WWE itself has reduced its non-televised event schedule compared to previous decades.

Tony Schiavone, who began his announcing career with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in the mid-1980s before becoming the voice of WCW and eventually joining AEW in 2019, expressed genuine fondness for the unique atmosphere of these events.

Just away from the regular television, it was really cool to be able to go out with the guys and go to a show that wasn’t televised. And I did a lot of those back in the JCP era. I loved them. I really did. I miss the house shows, it’s just a different vibe to it, a lot of excitement. The guys approach it differently.

The veteran broadcaster drew parallels between wrestling’s evolution and changes in other sports, suggesting that television has fundamentally altered the presentation and business model of live entertainment.

It’s like any other sport. I’ve said this many times, college football is not a football game anymore. It’s a television show. So television has changed the dynamic of everything. And then with streaming, and the money that television networks and streaming services are putting out.

Industry analysts have noted that while television and streaming deals now generate the majority of revenue for major wrestling promotions, the decline in house shows has removed a traditional training ground where wrestlers could experiment with new moves and character elements away from the cameras.

Tony Schiavone Reveals Crazy Initiation Ritual He Had To Do When He Joined WWE

On another edition of his podcast, Tony Schiavone has spoke about the strange initiation ritual he had to participate in when he first joined the company in 1989. The ritual was that anyone who was new to the production team had to go into the lunchroom and sing Hulk Hogan’s “Real American” theme song.

H/t to 411mania.com