This week I’m going to talk a little about Live Events or as we know them House Shows. James in his The Opinion series gave a few experiences of his time at road shows, or TV tapings and I felt that it would be cool to talk about wrestling at this part of the world.

I’m from Northern Ireland where the weather sucks and just about everything else follows suit. I live an hour from the capital and travel there 4 days a week for College. Because Northern Ireland (and the rest of the UK) is so far away from America we only get to experience WWE house shows twice a year at the most. I think having them over here so little makes it that much more important and special, however folk will disagree and say it sucks.

House shows are very important in that they allow the talent to travel to many different countries around the world and that the talent are able to try different things or hone certain skills before showcasing them on TV to a much wider audience. TV shows such as Raw, SmackDown, NXT and SuperStars happen on a weekly basis but road shows happen much more frequently, sometimes happening as much as everyday.

WWE record absolutely nothing in Belfast, or Northern Ireland because it is relatively small here. However, I believe that WWE and other wrestling promotions are starting to become much more well known and I believe that the audience from here is expanding at a nice pace. I obviously wish that someday WWE will look at smaller places such as Belfast or Dublin & record for TV purposes. MTV recently – well when I say recently I mean November 2011 – used Belfast for the MTV European Music Awards & MTV were so happy with Belfast that they are back this Friday for a “Titanic Sounds” show live from the Titanic Quarter. Side Note: MTV actually prevented WWE from coming to Belfast last November as they had booked our arena out for several days. YES YES YES I was fuming mad.

Whenever WWE are over I make sure to see the stars, get a few autographs or pictures with them, head out for a big meal before catching the show live from ringside along with my SLR that I get told to put away several hundred times. I make a complete day of it and every single time I go to a live show the same feeling comes over me – “DAMN, I wanna be a WWE Superstar” – suffice to say I have not yet started wrestling training but would love to start at some stage. WWE are coming to Belfast this Friday whereby like mentioned above I will make a complete day of it. It’s been raining all week & I’ll probably end up dying from getting soaked to death by the rain in great effort to get a picture with Sheamus.

A few experiences from house shows:
-As a kid (approximately aged 7-10) I went to a SmackDown house show in Belfast & I can remember arguing with a fully grown man over who Torrie Wilson waved at. She waved at me, the man was just a perv for Torrie.

-As a kid at the same house show as the Torrie Wilson Wave-gate incident I remember telling my dad that I felt sick because Albert (now known as Lord Tensai) had too much hair on his back and that it was disgusting.

-I got to watch Eddie Guerrero wrestle as part of Los Guerreros.

– More recently I have met Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga and Chad Patton (with a head still on his shoulders)

Slideshow of some pictures!

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Apologies to those who feel this may seem too similar to James’ article earlier this week and apologies that this week’s article is a bit short. Next week I will be reviewing the WWE show I’m going to this Friday, so catch me back here next week with that. To continue the discussion on twitter follow me @Razor_WWE94.

-Ryan

There is nothing else like it: The electric anticipation that fills the arena as people take their seats. The buzzing darkness when the lights go down. The very first note of a Superstar’s entrance music, and the crowd’s instant, deafening roar. The moment when the Superstar finally emerges, or the way time slows down when a high-flyer takes to the air. Every show is an infinity of moments. And everyone in attendance knows they are witnessing something unforgettable, something great. Each of them will forever be able to say,
“I was there.”