10 Weird (But TRUE) Facts For WWE In 2025
3. Death Of The House Show
Historically, house shows (or “live events,” as WWE calls them today) were the bread and butter for professional wrestling organizations.
The advent of television and PPV greatly diminished that, but house shows remained an important part of the business. At the very least, these non-televised events allowed wrestlers an opportunity to hone their craft and try out new material (both character work and moves), and build goodwill with fans in different parts of the country.
But in an era where Netflix hands over $5 billion over a 10-year period and ESPN is paying WWE $1.6 billion for the next five years, there’s little incentive to keep running those small house shows, especially with TKO caring only about the bottom line.
Just in the past three years, main roster house shows have declined precipitously, from 103 in 2023, to 65 in 2024, down to just 25 this year (seven of which are taking place in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve).
By comparison, WWE held 20 house shows in 2020. That’s right, they crammed nearly as many house shows into the 10 weeks before the pandemic shut everything down than they did in a full 52 weeks this year.
Given TKO squeezing maximum profit out of their operations, it’s possible this could decrease even more, or perhaps they will start recording the house shows and presenting them on YouTube as additional content.