Nick Khan is not rushing to expand WWE’s house show schedule, even as Cody Rhodes has publicly lobbied for more live events.
Appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast ahead of WrestleMania 42, Khan agreed when Simmons suggested there are real reasons WWE wrestlers are not on the road as much as they used to be, and pointed to the toll the old schedule took on talent as the driving factor behind the current approach.
“Think about every wrestling documentary you’ve ever seen. Usually about wrestlers in the 80s started off with, ‘I was on the road 300 days a year.’ It’s no way, and then you saw the results of that. Forget family life, but you saw what people would do to make sure that their bodies could perform at that level,” Khan said.
Rhodes has been vocal about wanting WWE to bring back a more robust live event schedule, going so far as to pitch testing one house show loop per month. His argument has centered on keeping wrestlers sharp in the ring and building a stronger locker room culture through time spent together on the road.
WWE still runs some main roster house shows, though they are primarily limited to international tours and the annual domestic holiday loop around Christmas. The company has a European tour scheduled for this summer and will be running house shows in South America in September.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Bill Simmons Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
