House Show Arenas: when did they stop being dark?

[747]

You notice in a lot of house show videos from the main WWF arenas into the late 1980's that the arena surrounding the ring is pretty dark for the card. I assume this may have been done to mask empty seats or keep people's attention on the ring? When did the WWF stop having the arenas so dark like this?

[Burst]

House Shows are still pretty dark compared to the televised shows, though the level of darkness depends on the arena.

Though I do know when I last saw a show at the Westchester County Center, the house lights got all glitchy during the main event, coming on at random and such, and even Orton looked annoyed by it.

[preferable]

I don't think they were called 'dark' shows because of the lighting in the arena. I think it was a term more to suggest that the ongoing television audience would be 'in the dark' of them e.g that it wasn't part of the continued television storylines.

[Smiley Smile]

This wasn't limited to house shows, I don't think. I remember this being the case at the first two WrestleManias, for instance.

[Ultimo Chocula]

I preferred the house show footage, truth be told. Especially the ones from MSG, Boston Gardens, The Philly Spectrum, and London Ontario. It made it look more legit.

[rapidfire187]

Nov 20, 2011 11:54:56 GMT -5 747 said:

You notice in a lot of house show videos from the main WWF arenas into the late 1980's that the arena surrounding the ring is pretty dark for the card. I assume this may have been done to mask empty seats or keep people's attention on the ring? When did the WWF stop having the arenas so dark like this?

The last house show I went to wasn't really dark. I kind of think it has something to do with WWE's focus on production values at this point. Of course, the fans aren't going to get pyro and all that jazz but the least they can do is give some decent lighting.

Or it could just be a thing that varies from arena to arena.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

WWE didn't have lighting rigs until Dick Ebersol introduced them for Saturday Nights Main Event.

He wanted better production for it to air on national TV, so that is probably the answer why they started to light up the fans.

[Hassan bin Sober]

Only house show I ever went to was in 2003. The only real lighting they had were lights that were fastened to the turn buckles so it was pretty dark. At one point someone got thrown into a turnbuckle and it blew one of the lights out and they had to fix it. I think they had been deliberately avoiding doing that but someone forgot. Oops.

[giffyjames]

i guess it depends where u go for events. i remember seeing shows when i was a kid and my god, wwe had no lighting besides house lights and a spotlight

[johnnyk9]

I went to a house show last year in Philly the arena was dark and light only focused on the ring, I like that feel better, makes me more into the product

[preferable]

Presumably for non-TV productions WWE doesn't want to pay for high energy bills.

[walsh7637]

I've noticed that house shows of late kinda look like what Superstars and Challenge looked like in the early-mid '90s. The only big fanfare area was the entrance way, and compared to the giant elaborate sets of Raw and Smackdown, it's insidiously low-key.

[jason1980s]

I always wondered about the PPVs or matches shown on Coliseum Videos from the early years where the lights were darker. Both the first two Survivor Series seemed dark. I don't know if it was that particular arena because arenas were getting lighter by 1988. I did notice when the Powers of Pain were coming out there were some empty seats.

I loved Wrestlemania III getting darker as the show progressed but that was because of the roof. Big Event looked cool despite the darkness just because there was no roof.

Wrestlemania II had a dark look as did Wrestlamania I and Wrestling Classic.

[Dean-o]

I went to a house show back in 2006 and most of the arena was very dark, with the only lighting on the ring itself. Even the entrance way for the wrestlers was hard to see.

[Deleted]

It's like having a spotlight on the action.

I would suppose when wrestling started doing more outside the ring stuff, they decided it was best to just illuminate everything.

But, if you're in a small crackerbox arena, it doesn't take all that much to illuminate everything.

[beamanhogan]

The recent house shows I have been to are always dark. I like the feel of it. I did love the one RAW where there was a power failure in the arena and they had to light the opening match that way. I think it was a women's match.

[thetower52]

last few house shows i went to where pretty dark as well