9 Things WWE Experimented With On House Shows But Never Went With
Back before Paul Heyman's days as the advocate, there was The Body.
Whereas the WWE TV product rightly garners plenty of attention and is viewed as being where so much of WWE’s best moments take place, there’s a solid argument to be made that non-televised live events are just as enjoyable a prospect as WWE’s TV shows.
Attending a house show may not have the big-budget sets and pyro that a Raw or SmackDown has, but such an event usually affords the talent more time for their matches, there’s a more relaxed, fun feel, and WWE has often been known to test out new ideas and gimmicks at these non-televised outings.
Over the years, WWE has used live shows as a way to test the water to see how something may get over (or not!) with an audience. Whether that’s a character change, an emerging talent, or even a particular match-up that the company sees developing into a money-making rivalry, the live WWE experience can be a massively rewarding one for fans.
Part and parcel of trying things out with a view to putting it on TV, of course, is that these non-televised tester moments may see an idea sink like a stone or cause WWE brass to re-evaluate what they were initially thinking.
On that trail of thought, then, here are eight examples of WWE trying things out on non-televised shows… and then completely dropping the concept before it could ever make it to main WWE TV.
9. The Return Of Mortis
Back in 2003, it looked for a moment there like wrestling fans may once again see Mortis back on their TV screens.
With WWE barely having used him over the past year or more, Chris Kanyon began to use his old Mortis gimmick at live events and in dark matches. That particular persona had not been seen since 1998 in WCW, yet Kanyon was desperate to try anything to create a spark by ’03. And that anything included bringing the fan favourite Mortis moniker back.
In those Mortis outings, the former WCW United States Champion largely won singles squash matches, occasionally teamed up with Funaki, or took a couple of losses at the hands of Matt Hardy Version 1.0.
Unfortunately for Kanyon, his days in WWE were soon up and the company would release him in early 2004 – without Mortis ever making it to WWE TV.