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I was at the 12/26 MSG show and couldn’t believe how poorly attended it was. It’s a tradition to go to the Garden the day after Christmas and they usually draw a great crowd. That wasn’t the case this year. Is it time for WWE to stop doing house shows?
If they are making profit, no, but I get your point. That leads to the next question.
I will admit that it’s been over 25 years since I was a regular attendee at both Baltimore and Washington WWWF/WWF/WWE cards. What I remember about those monthly cards was the fact that the cards in the two cities were never even remotely the same, as promoters Vince J., Phil Zacko and eventually Vince K. recognized that the arenas are only 40 miles apart and that a large number of fans attending would go to the cards in both cities. I notice that the cards advertised for 12/28 in Washington and 12/29 in Baltimore are identical. I am sure that will cut into the attendance at both cities. I realize that WWE might not want to shlep different personnel from their alternate venues (Pittsburgh and Toronto) to Balt and Wash; but shouldn’t the talent be put in different matches to ensure maximum attendance at the two venues?
To answer your question, yes WWE should do all that they can to make the house show experience a good one. They should also take into account that when they are in markets that are as close as what you mentioned, they could get overflow so they should try and give a different show, at least in some of the matches. With that said, house shows have been a neglected area of the company for years now. Vince McMahon has said, a few times, on WWE investor calls that he knows what the problem is with house shows is, and he knows how to fix it. Suffice to say, no fix has been made. In my opinion, the one potential fix to house shows is to make the TV product better. Many people go to house shows when they can’t get enough WWE on TV. That is not the case now. But to be fair, even if the booking improved, it’s debatable whether fans will still need to see more WWE action after getting seven first run hours on TV every week.
What do you think of the way they presented Bryan Danielson on his debut? With the exception of the physique he looked a lot like a mirror image to Brock Lesner. Was this a dig at WWE and was it done on purpose?
I didn’t notice that at all so I can’t say it was done on purpose. If it was, it was lost on me.
I saw you had a question about reading what people were saying about the Punk-Darby match. It made me wonder, do you read places where people talk about wrestling like Reddit, Facebook groups, etc?
Honestly? Nope, I don’t. I have always liked to watch matches and angles and give my take on them without influence. Plus, there is just too much to wade through for me. Over the last five years, I have gotten sick of social media for the most part. I appreciate people having a right to their opinions. I exercise my right to not read them.
What’s your favorite Hulk Hogan lie? You have to admit they’re entertaining. As a Metallica fan, I’m partial to his claim that he almost joined the band in 1987, but the absurdity of his claim of working 400 days a year because he flew over the international date line has to take the cake. But which one do you like?
My favorite was when he tried to explain dropping N Bombs is something he and his friends did as a term of endearment growing up, it wasn’t racial. He grew up in Florida in the 1950s. That is a whopper.
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