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.

by Andrew Pollard
Brock Lesnar Jesse Ventura
WWE.com

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

Brock Lesnar Jesse Ventura
WWE.com

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.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.