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WWE: Live Events Need to Follow NXT’s Example

By Bryan Heaton

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Live Events featuring main roster WWE Superstars are missing the “must-see” factor, while NXT touring shows can’t be missed.

For the past several months, as NXT continues to hit the road for shows outside of their Florida home, nearly every live event features something unique to that particular show. It started innocuously enough, with then-NXT Champion Finn Balor and then-Women’s Champion Bayley having fun like a couple of long-time teenage friends.

In the past few weeks, however, the stakes have been raised. In Lowel, MA, Samoa Joe challenged Balor for the NXT Championship – and emerged victorious. The show wasn’t advertised as a possible WWE Network showcase; rather, it appeared to just be another regular old house show. But, shockingly, a major title changed hands, opening up a whole bunch of questions as to what would happen next.

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On May 14 in Portland, OR, things went one step further. Already scheduled for their third straight TakeOver main event contest for the NXT Championship on June 8, Balor and Joe met again with the title on the line. Joe retained, but the two brawled until William Regal sent out the entire locker room to separate the bitter rivals. Video of the mayhem was uploaded to NXT’s Facebook page, as promoted by Triple H on Twitter:

Now, quick: What was the last thing of note to happen at a live event featuring Superstars from the main roster?

Can’t come up with anything, right? Aside from a couple of post-show promos that put over either a Superstar in front of his hometown crowd, or a new guy, nothing seems to happen at live events.

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Aside from the possibility that a live event may be picked up for airing on the WWE Network, what incentive do fans have nowadays to want to spend their hard-earned money on a show where it’s almost certain that nothing is going to happen? With a different style of wrestling from what is seen on television most often used on house shows (to try and minimize injury risk), many fans would consider the live events to be “boring” because of that.

And when was the last time a championship changed hands at a non-televised event in WWE? It was 2012, when Primo & Epico defeated Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston for the WWE Tag Team Championships. For a singles title, it appears to be Nunzio winning the defunct Cruiserweight Championship in 2005 – although that took place on a European tour, with the Italian-American Nunzio capturing the title in Rome.

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I’m not advocating championships changing hands at every single house show – that’s too far to the other extreme, and they lose their specialness. However, live events are an invaluable part of any wrestling promotion – away from the television production, the wrestlers can work out different moves ahead of a broadcast, or different angles or gimmicks can be tried out (not to mention the financial aspect of moving merchandise) – and to make them seem like they aren’t important would do a disservice to the entire company.

WWE needs to have the “big leagues” follow suit of the developmental brand, and give fans a concrete reason to not miss a show in their area. Whether it’s title change, a locker room-emptying pull-apart brawl, or even a couple of goofballs doing each other’s entrances or dancing together, the trip needs to be justified.

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To put it another way: I drove 3 1/2 hours from Long Island to Albany to see NXT Live – twice – but I have a hard time taking a train ride into Brooklyn/Manhattan to see Raw, let alone a WWE house show. This shouldn’t be the case for a major wrestling promotion in 2016.

What do you think about the state of WWE Live Events?

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