WWE Should Air More House Shows On The WWE Network

After putting The Shield’s Last Chapter on the WWE Network, WWE should consider airing more house shows altogether.

WWE recently aired a show called The Shield’s Final Chapter on the WWE Network. Due to Dean Ambrose’s impending departure, it was billed as the last match for one of WWE’s most iconic stables.

The show featured The Shield taking on Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin, and Bobby Lashley along with an Intercontinental Championship match between Finn Balor and Elias and a tag team match between The Riott Squad and the team of Bayley and Ember Moon.

Overall, it was an enjoyable little show. In of itself though, I admit that might not seem like a card that would be too out of the ordinary.

It did, however, have 1 defining characteristic that we don’t oftentimes get to see on the WWE Network. It was a true house show.

In short, that means it was a show that typically doesn’t air on either the WWE Network or regular television. In fact, the entire card for this show wasn’t even shown on the WWE Network, just the climatic portion of it.

These are the kinds of shows that tour around just about every city in the United States, oftentimes featuring matches you don’t usually see on TV which can occasionally serve as previews of rivalries to come.

All in all, it’s a more laid back environment compared to what you see on your average Monday Night Raw or SmackDown Live.

The superstars seem to engage more with the crowd, and matches are given more time to develop and pull the audience in as a result. Altogether, it gives the show a more personal feel, like your seeing something unique.

Fans who followed both the build to, and the final show of, The Shield’s Final Chapter got a taste of that feeling.

The promos felt raw and uncut. They felt like they were part of the genuine send-off a legendary team like The Shield, and a tremendous competitor like Dean Ambrose, deserved from WWE.

Then, when you got down to the actual action of the show itself, you could tell these superstars were trying to giving fans something special. Something that made this show worthy of being aired as a WWE Network special.

It’s all of those elements together that are why WWE should begin to air more house shows when they are able to create moments like these. House shows can provide an entirely different dynamic that lets fans see their favorite superstars in unique and exciting match-ups and situations.

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Some incredible matches and moments have happened over the years at house shows. Matches like the Brock Lesnar versus Randy Orton rematch that many wanted, but never received following SummerSlam 2016, happened at a house show.

Those matches shouldn’t be left to just snippets of phone camera footage from the audience on YouTube. When WWE decides to put on matches like that, they should always make them into these kinds of WWE Network specials.

That way, fans who would really enjoy seeing those bouts can do so, while uninterested fans can continue on unimpeded. That’s because the beauty of house shows is that they rarely have any impact on the actual TV product. They’re in their own little world essentially.

That’s an important element to consider as well, because I don’t think anyone wants to hit that pay-per-view overload that the company edged dangerously close to in the recent past.

House shows would be a way to present more unique and momentous matches to fans without making it feel like an obligation for those who remain uninterested to watch in order to keep up with the regular TV offerings.

Basically, house shows are the perfect middle ground between giving fans more content without putting too much on their plates. Simply put, it’s perhaps the most clean-cut solution to a problem WWE and its fans have been desperate to solve for quite some time now.