Eric Bischoff Endorses Cody Rhodes’ Idea For Monthly WWE House Shows

On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff said WWE should bring back house shows, a topic Cody Rhodes recently pitched to WWE management. Rhodes thinks doing so monthly helps build camaraderie and gives talent more opportunities to work. You can check out some highlights below:

On the Proposal:

“[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.’”

On the Problem With TV Days:

“TV is pretty hectic. You don’t really get a chance to riff, you don’t get a chance to exchange ideas. You don’t really have a chance to sit down and talk about things creatively. You don’t get that ‘bar and car’ time where so much of the great stuff and professional wrestling was conceived. Either in the back of a car riding into the next town with a beverage or two, or sitting at the bar after the show. And talking about what you just experienced and what maybe you want to try next time. And that’s where so many great ideas were born, and that opportunity no longer exists.”

On the Idea:

“But 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.

“And not only does it make you feel like you’re part of something, you’re going to learn, you’re going to get experience in front of a different crowd, different type of crowd. And it’s also an opportunity for you to try some things. So if you’re an NXT, or you’re in WWE and you’re working together on a house show. You haven’t really started your program on television yet, but you know it’s coming? Work your stuff out at a house show. Try some new things there that you can’t try on TV. Nobody’s willing to try anything new on TV. You’re going to do the things that you know work, and get the reaction you want. But a house show is when you get to experiment in a fun way, and the audience gets a chance to participate. And oh yeah, those reps keep you from getting hurt. Now, I’m never a wrestler. Don’t ever try to pretend I was, but I’ve known a lot of them, and the one thing that I remember hearing him all say from the beginning of my wrestling career was how difficult it is to take time off. Because when you’re not taking those bumps, you get deconditioned from bumping very quickly, from what I’ve been told. So getting out there and taking those bumps and performing in front of a live crowd helps you from being injured when it matters.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.