WWE is bringing back house shows to get talent more reps in the ring, but there is another reason they should never have been taken away in the first place.
WWE added 10 house show stops to its schedule for July and August this summer.
In Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the reason WWE is adding these shows to its schedule is because the company wants to get younger talent more experience in the ring.
But there is another reason house shows can be a good financial move for the company, even if the individual shows themselves lose money.
WWE house shows and the problem with short-term thinking
There used to be a saying in business that went something along the lines of, “Don’t be penny wise, but pound foolish.”
Basically, what this saying conveyed was: don’t do anything stupid that makes you money short-term, but costs you money long-term.
Nobody says this anymore. It’s not considered good advice because in 2026 corporate culture, it does pay to be penny wise and pound foolish, so long as it makes your next quarter’s results look good.
In a world where companies buy other companies daily, sell companies just as fast, and are owned by investment portfolios, nobody has a vision or a dream for what their product looks like. They just have a dream of numbers going up in their bank account.
Cutting WWE house shows might have been a penny wise move, but it’s very pound-foolish if you care about where the industry will be in 20 years.
WWE house shows and live events are where wrestling fans are made
House shows are money losers, so TKO got rid of them.
Why would you do anything that loses money?
Well, the idea is that it would grow your fan base in the long term.
Wrestling, like baseball, like other sports, and like many other things, is something that is passed down to someone from an older generation. A parent, an older sibling, or somebody else takes them to wrestling, and at a young age, that person forms a connection with it that is countless times deeper than the connection they form with it through a television screen.
They’re surrounded by thousands of people who also like this same ridiculous thing that they like. The performers from the television screen are right in front of them. It becomes a much bigger deal.
That young fan is far more likely, in theory, to become a diehard fan throughout their life and, even more importantly, pass down their wrestling fandom to their kids when the time comes.
When you cut out house shows, you cut out the creation of fans through this method. It’s a poor long-term strategy for your business.
Cutting house shows because they’re money losers is penny wise but pound foolish.
Why WWE house shows continued for so long even though they lost money
So when Vince McMahon continued running house shows, even though they lost money, there was a reason for it. It wasn’t just that Vince liked to throw away money. It was that he saw house shows as a pivotal part of growing the audience.
And he was right.
But in 2026, what’s the point in doing something that will be good for your business 20 years from now if there’s a chance you’re not even going to hold any stock in that company 20 years from now?
The only people within an industry trying to improve that industry are people who intend on passing down a business to their kids. Well, when it came time to do that, Vince wasn’t willing, and now TKO is running the company. And we got what we got: a make-money-now, who-cares-about-tomorrow approach.
WWE house shows are fan development, not just talent development
So WWE bringing back house shows because they are good for talent development is part of the equation, but not the full story.
This is not just talent development. It is also fan development.
But does TKO Group Holdings care about the state the wrestling industry will be in the 2040s or 2050s?
They don’t.
Because everyone involved with that company right now will have cashed out by then.
There’s another saying, a more unofficial one that takes place in business: “You’ll be gone, I’ll be gone.”
It’s basically what someone says before they do something penny wise, very pound foolish, and usually pretty unethical. I have a feeling it gets said a lot around TKO’s offices.
WWE is going to reportedly give their talents and production crew the day after Thanksgiving off according to a new report by Wrestlevotes.
The outlet reported Thursday that WWE will hold a dual taping of WWE SmackDown on Friday, November 22 in Denver, Colorado. The show taped after the live SmackDown will then air the following Friday after Thanksgiving.
As of now, WWE has yet to announce any event for Denver that night in addition to their mid-to-late December events.
If it comes to pass, it will be the go-home show for that Saturday’s Survivor Series premium live event in San Diego, California. Raw will be live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that Monday.
WWE has added 27 live events to its touring schedule.
TKO Group Holdings issued a press release on Friday announcing the shows, which will take place from January to March 2024. Tickets to the live events will go on sale beginning Friday, November 3.
WWE newly announced live events:
Friday, January 5, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Vancouver, B.C, Canada, Rogers Arena
Saturday, January 6, 2024 – House Show – Spokane, WA, Spokane Arena
Sunday, January 7, 2024 – House Show – Wenatchee, WA, Town Toyota Center
Monday, January 8, 2024 – WWE Raw – Portland, Oregon, Moda Center
Friday, January 12, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Lincoln, Nebraska, Pinnacle Bank Arena
Saturday, January 13, 2024 – House Show – Las Cruces, NM, Pan American Center
Sunday, January 14, 2024 – House Show – Rio Rancho, NM, Rio Rancho Event Center
Monday, January 15, 2024 – WWE Raw – North Little Rock, Arkansas, Simmons Bank Arena
Friday, January 19, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Atlanta, GA, State Farm Arena
Saturday, January 20, 2024 – House Show – Montgomery, Alabama, Garrett Coliseum
Sunday, January 21, 2024 – House Show – Jackson, Mississippi, Mississippi State Fair Coliseum
Monday, January 22, 2024 – WWE Raw – New Orleans, LA, Smoothie King Center
Friday, January 26, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Miami, FL, Kaseya Center
Friday, February 2, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Birmingham, Alabama, Legacy Arena
Saturday, February 3, 2024 – House Show – Knoxville, TN, Knoxville Civic Coliseum
Monday, February 5, 2024 – WWE Raw – St. Louis, Missouri, Enterprise Center
Friday, February 9, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Charlotte, NC, Spectrum Center
Monday, February 12, 2024 – WWE Raw – Lexington, Kentucky, Rupp Arena
Friday, February 16, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Salt Lake City, Utah, Delta Center
Saturday, February 17, 2024 – House Show – Oakland, CA, Oakland Arena
Sunday, February 18, 2024 – House Show – Fresno, CA, Save Mart Center
Monday, February 19, 2024 – WWE Raw – Anaheim, CA, Honda Center
Monday, February 26, 2024 – WWE Raw – San Jose, CA, SAP Center
Friday, March 1, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Glendale, Arizona, Desert Diamond Arena
Monday, March 4, 2024 – WWE Raw – San Antonio, Texas, Frost Bank Center
Wednesday, March 8, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Dallas, Texas, American Airlines Center
Wednesday, March 22, 2024 – WWE SmackDown – Milwaukee, WI, Fiserv Forum
WWE’s fall tour throughout the United States saw 27 new September and October dates officially announced Friday which includes October’s previously announced Fastlane at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, October 7th.
The other 26 shows are made up of Raw and SmackDown TV events plus weekend house shows.
September:
Saturday, September 9th: House show at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY
Sunday, September 10th: House show at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA
Friday, September 15th: SmackDown at Ball Arena in Denver, CO
Saturday, September 16th: House show at Toyota Center in Kennewick, WA
Sunday, September 17th: House show at Extra Mile Arena in Boise, ID
Monday, September 18th: Raw at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, UT
Friday, September 22nd: SmackDown at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ
Saturday, September 23rd: House show at Acrisure Arena in Greater Palm Springs, CA
Sunday, September 24th: House show at Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA
Monday, September 25th: Raw at Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA
Friday, September 29th: SmackDown at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA
Saturday, September 30th: House show at Chase Center in San Francisco, CA
October:
Sunday, October 1st: House show at Tahoe Blue Event Center in Lake Tahoe, NV
Monday, October 2nd: Raw at SAP Center in San Jose, CA
Friday, October 6th: SmackDown at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO
Saturday, October 7th: Fastlane at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN
Monday, October 9th: Raw at CHI Health Center in Omaha, NE
Friday, October 13th: SmackDown at BOK Center in Tulsa, OK
Saturday, October 14th: House show at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO
Sunday, October 15th: House show at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, MO
Monday, October 16th: Raw at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, OK
Friday, October 20th: SmackDown at AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX
Saturday, October 21st: House show at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, TX
Sunday, October 22nd: House show at Sames Auto Arena in Laredo, TX
Monday, October 23rd: Raw at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX
Friday, October 27th: SmackDown at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI
Monday, October 30th: Raw at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC
WWE will run two pay-per-views this May, according to a report.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reports that WWE has Backlash scheduled for Saturday, May 6, plus King and Queen of the Ring set for Saturday, May 27.
The May 27 date is on Memorial Day weekend, traditionally the weekend that AEW holds their Double or Nothing pay-per-view in Las Vegas. AEW has run on the Sunday of that weekend the past two years after running Saturday for the first two Double or Nothing events.
The report notes that this year’s Backlash will not have the “WrestleMania Backlash” title that the event had in 2021 and 2022.
WWE filed for the “King and Queen of the Ring” trademark in December 2022.
King of the Ring was a standalone pay-per-view for WWE from 1993 to 2002, and the tournament has since been incorporated into programming sporadically.
Xavier Woods was the most recent King of the Ring, winning a tournament final at Crown Jewel in 2021. Zelina Vega was the winner of the 2021 “Queen’s Crown” tournament final at the same event.
WWE’s touring schedule for the remainder of 2022 and into January 2023 has been revealed in a court filing.
WWE filed a complaint on Friday against “John and Jane Does of XYZ Corporations” in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas that would outlaw selling bootleg WWE merchandise within five miles of any WWE event in the specified time period, according to court documents obtained by Heel By Nature.
The schedule does not delineate which brands will run on which dates, and encompasses Raw, SmackDown and NXT events, as well as main roster house shows and pay-per-views. The schedule is also likely not comprehensive, as dates often change, and more house shows during the week of Christmas in December are likely to be added, but the dates listed below serve as a reliable outline of the company’s touring plans over the next nine months.
The schedule:
04/08/2022 Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
04/11/2022 Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, MI
04/12/2022 WWE Performance Center, Orlando, FL
04/15/2022 DCU Center, Worcester, MA
04/16/2022 Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, PA
04/17/2022 War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, NY
04/18/2022 KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY
04/22/2022 MVP Arena, Albany, NY
04/23/2022 Santander Arena, Reading, PA
04/23/2022 Garrett Coliseum, Montgomery, AL
04/24/2022 Visions Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, NY
We’re looking for reports from last night’s Raw show in Moline, IL, Non-Raw stuff from tonight’s Raw in Des Moines and reports from tonight’s Smackdown show in Sioux City, IA to [email protected].
We’re also doing our weekend poll for the New Japan Sengoku Lord show from Saturday, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].
Raw on Monday will be from Des Moines, IA. Smackdown has a house show Monday in Sioux City, IA.
NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL TUESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL TUESDAY IN SENDAI ON ALLJAPAN.TV
Shuji Ishikawa vs. Dylan James
Kengo Mashimo vs. Gianni Valletta
Ryoji Sai vs. Yuji Okabayashi
Yoshitatsu vs. Daichi Hashimoto
Smackdown and 205 Live will be Tuesday night in Lincoln, NE. Kofi Kingston vs. Shinsuke Nakamura is currently scheduled.
NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
ALL JAPAN CHAMPION CARNIVAL WEDNESDAY IN NAGAOKA ON ALL JAPAN.TV
Part one of Ronda Rousey’s professional wrestling career officially came to an end at WrestleMania.
Nearly three months after Dave Meltzer first reported that Rousey was likely finishing up with WWE at WrestleMania 35, Rousey made things official this week. She wrote on Instagram that she was going on an “impregnation vacation” with her husband Travis Browne. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who Rousey is friendly with, then reported that Rousey is taking a hiatus from WWE to start a family.
A rundown of the fallout of the Superstar Shakeup leads off this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Go through the moves, the names, the direction, what it says about 205 Live, those coming and going, key people not brought up, couples and read a depth chart of the new rosters.
Look at the situation with Undertaker, the U.K. talk show situation and what happened, how did it happen, update on Sasha Banks situation, update on Money in the Bank PPV, update on Luke Harper, Alexander Wolfe, WWE’s relationship with Stardom, and WWE injury updates.
Also look at UFC 236, with match-by-match coverage, poll result and business notes.
Examine the Viceland documentary and the situation that led to the Montreal screwjob, including claims by Jim Cornette and Vince Russo about being the architects, from the background, and why it happened.
Also look at the career of Rich Franklin as he goes into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Read a feature on the legacy wing inductees in the WWE Hall of Fame, including major write-ups on Jim Barnett and Primo Carnera, as well as Hisashi Shinma’s role in Japanese wrestling booking history.
Run down the ratings of all the major TV shows, along with detailed demo info for the WWE shows.
As always, read the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell,CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight after Raw, talking the latest shakeups on the WWE roster, plans changing and all the news from tonight’s show, as well as Viceland docs, UFC and the latest news. We have a great weekend show with Garrett Gonzalez and myself talking to Pat Laprade about Raw & Smackdown, Andre the Giant, the Montreal screwjob and Quebec sports and entertainment.
Mighty John Quinn, who wrestled in the 60s, 70s and into the early 80s, mostly in Canada, but was a huge star in England, passed away earlier today at the age of 78 from complications in surgery during a stroke. Quinn, who drew the only true sellout at Wembley Arena by a U.K. promotion for his 1979 match with Big Daddy (the other Daddy Wembley shows that legend had it were sellouts, including the famous Haystacks match, actually drew between 5,000 and 7,000). He was a major star in several Canadian Territories and had a 1968 Madison Square Garden main event against Bruno Sammartino, using the name, The Kentucky Butcher. He had multiple matches with Sammartino in the other major arenas as well. He was a bigger star in Europe, where he held the area’s world heavyweight championship four times, holding it as late as 1986, and kept going back to Europe until falling out with the U.K. promotion in 1987. In recent years, Quinn was beset with a multitude of health issues. He was the cousin of Pat Quinn, the former coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Want to make mention of ESPN signing Marc Raimondi from MMA Fighting, which Raimondi announced this morning. ESPN got one hell of a reporter. I’ve worked with Marc for his entire tenure at MMA Fighting and I’ve got the greatest of respect for him and consider him a good friend and am very happy for him getting this opportunity.
There is still nothing firm regarding whether the 6/8 San Jose Takeover show is still on with the Saudi Arabia show being on 6/7. Basically everything is on hold because the Saudi Arabia show, originally set for 5/3, then moved to 6/7, is probable but not 100 percent right now. What we do know is that tentatively the 6/7 Salt Lake City show was moved to 6/16 and the 6/8 Denver show was moved to 6/15. Those would be the dates they couldn’t have U.S. shows is they are going to Saudi Arabia. The fact these moves have been made, but not announced, tells you they are pretty sure that Saudi show is on. The 6/16 Backlash show scheduled in San Diego is 6/16, but it is now no longer scheduled as a PPV, but will continue as a house show. There is talk the Backlash PPV will be on 6/23 which is currently listing shows in Spokane, WA or Abbotsford, BC. We were told it would most likely be in Washington, but it may not necessarily be Spokane.
Riki Choshu’s retirement show will be on 6/26 at Korakuen Hall, which will also be closed-circuited into movie theaters all over Japan. Choshu is one of the ten biggest native stars in Japanese wrestling history and it will be the end of the 37-year legendary feud with Tatsumi Fujinami. Choshu will team with Tomohiro Ishii and Shiro Koshinaka against Fujinami, Keiji Muto and Togi Makabe.
WWE
NXT stars will be doing auctions tonight to help raise money for Ricochet’s mother, who lost her home in a fire this past week.
The company announced a tryout camp in China from 7/15 to 7/18, looking for 50 athletes to choose from. It will be the second tryout in Shanghai.
We’re told today’s New Japan Korakuen Hall show, while no specific matches of the year, was a hell of an entertaining show.
The final episode of “Riverdale” with Luke Perry on it will be airing Wednesday night. He was on last week’s episode at the end. He wasn’t in a lot of the episodes this season. It will be interesting how he’s written out. Perry also will be in the movie “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” that will be released on 7/26. It’s a Quentin Tarantino movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino and Margot Robbie. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
Kyle Snyder has been added to the Beat the Streets event on 5/6 at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden. Snyder will face Nishan Randhawa of Canada at 213 pounds. Also two-time national champion Yianni Diakomahlis face India’s Bajrang Punia. The big match on the show is a dream match of Jordan Burroughs vs. Ben Askren, Olympic gold medalist vs. two-time Hodge trophy winner and unbeaten MMA fighter.
CWE on 4/30 in Sudbury, ONT at the Polish Combatants Hall with Psicosis & Roy Gordon vs. Robin Lekime & Martn Pain.
New England Fights noted that its 4/27 show in Portland, ME at the Aura has sold out, making it the sixth straight sellout for the promotion, dating back one year.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix on 4/24 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
A story on a weekend legends of the ring gathering. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
