knightvibe
Salami
   
   
    
   
 
Since: 12.7.03
From: st louis, missouri
Since last post: 3056 days
Last activity: 3055 days
|  #1 Posted on 25.2.04 0952.54 | Instant Rating: 0.87 | Anyone been to one lately?
I havent been in forever but I think I'm going to go to the one in St. Louis after WMXX. Apparently, the WWE is doing more storyline interactions at the shows and is working hard to imrpove them. Hopefully Ill get to see HHH vs Benoit or HBK vs Benoit.
heres what someone wrote on pwtorch.com.. i though geez its been too long since i went to a house show.
The House Show Experience
This past Friday night, I attended a WWE Raw house show in Evansville, Ind. I’ve been to numerous house shows, but hadn’t been to one in a while and had forgotten what a great experience it is. House shows are different than televised ones, but they can be every bit as much fun.
With no cameras around, the lighting is much more subtle. Usually two steel trusses on opposite ringposts provide the only lighting for the action in the ring, while the crowd sits in relative darkness. The shadows cast from these two lone lights lend an air of intimacy that isn’t felt when every corner and crevice of the arena is awash in brightly colored lights for a live Raw, Smackdown, or PPV.
Wrestlers enter the ring without the accompaniment of pyro or MTV-style entrance videos. Yes, their entrance music plays, but when they walk through the curtain they have to rely on crowd interaction to keep that pop going. It’s almost like the silent movie stars of the teens and twenties who had to overact to compensate for the lack of speech. Randy Orton’s entrance was a perfect example. He slowly made his way to the ring, stopping frequently to strike arrogant poses and confront ringside hecklers. His entrance was two or three times longer than what you’ll see on television because he didn’t have to worry about getting to the ring before the commercial break. As noted in a house show earlier this week, sound systems sometimes don’t work and other times are awful, further necessitating the need for crowd interaction to liven up and add a spark to ring entrances.
One thing house shows do have in common with televised events is the lack of announcers to call the action. I was actually surprised at the first live event I ever went to. It was a USWA show in Evansville, Ind., and I wondered aloud how come I couldn’t hear Lance Russell and Dave Brown calling the action. You get so used to hearing the announcers on TV, that it seems somewhat odd seeing Triple H hit a pedigree without hearing Jim Ross go ballistic. The lack of announcing isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just takes some getting used to.
House shows move along at a rapid pace. One fifteen minute intermission halfway through the show is the norm. Wrestlers aren’t left standing in the ring waiting on their opponents while the cable station is airing a commercial for hot sandwiches featuring a couple of deranged rodents singing. Long-winded promos are a rarity, also. Backstage skits are nonexistent, since there is no Titantron to watch them on. No wrestlers fighting in the locker room for the benefit of the home-viewing audience. The battles in the squared circle are the sole focus of the show.
Those of you who love to watch live wrestling, but hate trying to see the ring over a field of large signs need only go to a house show to be able to view your beloved wrestling without such hindrances. No TV cameras = no morons with cardboard signs the size of a movie screen that read “Trippel H Sux”.
Another good thing about house shows is the fresh, young talent you are liable to see for the first time. While you may not know them, cheer or boo them and give them a chance. You may just be watching a star in the making. These are normally wrestlers who have been honing their craft in Ohio Valley Wrestling, preparing for a hopeful journey into the big time. Your response or lack of response to them may just make a difference in their careers. If the crowd warms up to them, WWE agents may take notice and book them in higher profile dark matches or maybe even a B-show such as Heat.
While it’s unlikely that you will see anything historic happen at a house show, it’s not impossible either. When Chris Benoit boasted that he may just take Triple H’s title in Evansville, Ind., I thought of how Bret Hart won the WWE title from Ric Flair at a house show in Canada years ago. It’s happened before, who’s to say it won’t happen again?
Some people say house shows aren’t really all that important. Maybe WWE could easily get by if they simply stopped promoting house shows completely. I, however, still think they are an integral part of the wrestling business that should remain in place. Although they are held in the same arenas and stadiums that extravagant TV tapings and PPVs are held at, the simplicity and quaint atmosphere of a WWE house show strips the frills and the glitter away, leaving only a wrestling ring, the wrestlers, and the rabid fans who came to see their heroes in action. Isn’t that what wrestling is all about in the first place?
and thats all i have to say about that!| Promote this thread! |           | Stilton
Frankfurter
Since: 7.2.04
From: Canada
Since last post: 2667 days
Last activity: 2667 days
|  #2 Posted on 25.2.04 1812.38 | Instant Rating: 2.16 | I grew up in house show territory. Saw a million of 'em with my dad and brother. Haven't seen one since the early ninties. Living in Toronto, one of the biggest wrestling markets there is, you don't get house shows like you used to get. You get Raw or Smackdown and the occaisional Wrestlemania. I'm not complaining. But there was different feeling to house shows. More intimacy. More...smells. I kinda miss that.
So sayeth Randy Stilton. | Mr Heel II
Bratwurst
Since: 25.2.02
Since last post: 7 days
Last activity: 22 hours
| #3 Posted on 25.2.04 1930.29 | Instant Rating: 5.87 | There has been a small amount of adjustment in putting a "theme" to a show, but not anything radical, which in my mind is good.
We were at Raw on Monday and She Who Resides In My Avatar commented that she likes attending the house shows better. Her reasoning primarily was because it was easier to understand what was happening. With TV, you've got a lot of down time for commercials, a significant chunk of the show coming to you on the big screen (backstage segments) and some things going on in the ring that might not be understood without the announcers explaining it.
If you don't go to house shows, you're missing a significant piece of this business, and one of the most fun ones at that.
House shows are primarily dominated by MATCHES. The matches have actual WRESTLING. The performers are more likely to be interactive with the crowd. And frankly, you get an understanding of why some wrestlers are still pushed when you don't think they can perform as well as they used to. Some guys (or teams, specifically the Dudleys) can pop a crowd to amazing levels. The people who come to the house shows and pop for these guys are the ones paying the bills of the wrestlers who work them. A good chunk of their salary is based on working those shows and the tickets sold at them.
I've been to RAW tapings. I've been to Smackdown tapings. I've been to PPV's, even Wrestlemania. The house shows may not have the glitter, but they have far more heart. | Stilton
Frankfurter
Since: 7.2.04
From: Canada
Since last post: 2667 days
Last activity: 2667 days
| #4 Posted on 26.2.04 1527.54 | Instant Rating: 2.14 | Originally posted by Mr Heel II
With TV, you've got a lot of down time for commercials, a significant chunk of the show coming to you on the big screen (backstage segments) and some things going on in the ring that might not be understood without the announcers explaining it.
If you don't go to house shows, you're missing a significant piece of this business, and one of the most fun ones at that.
Too true. I think house shows are more "old school", and very reminiscent of the kayfabe days, when a wrestler's heat wasn't coached by multimedia presentations coming at you from the jumbotron, but just the fan's genuine reaction to what goes down in the ring.
So sayeth Randy Stilton. | Snookum
Kishke
Since: 19.6.03
From: Louisville
Since last post: 2122 days
Last activity: 2103 days
| #5 Posted on 26.2.04 1540.39 | Instant Rating: 7.30 | We covered this a bit recently, but I agree with the consensus here - a house show is a unique experience that shouldn't be passed up. I've been to both and I'll have to say that I have more fun at the house shows and am more ready to pay for seats in the first couple of rows at them than at the televised shows. You also don't have to fight with boredom during the "commercial breaks" the televised events have (and, yes, they're in there for SMACKDOWN, even though that is taped). It's just boom, boom, boom at the house shows.
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