Three WWE House Show Title Matches That Could Land on TV

WWE has scaled back its house show schedule considerably over the past few years, but the live events still serve a purpose: they let the company test program ideas before committing them to Raw, SmackDown or a premium live event. A handful of recent house show title matches look like strong candidates to make that jump, and three in particular stand out.

The first involves United States Champion Trick Williams, who defended the title against Damian Priest at a house show in Winnipeg on October 15. Williams has been deep in a brewing confrontation with Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn, spilling into the October 16 SmackDown, which raises the possibility that his attention gets pulled toward the top title just as a new challenger closes in. Priest, fresh off turning heel by betraying R-Truth, would be a logical option to push into the U.S. Title picture on television, giving him a fresh direction after the split from his former ally.

The second centers on Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable, who won the title at SummerSlam and has since made a point of testing himself against NXT’s developing talent. One of those matches came against Saquon Shugars at a September 25 NXT house show in Columbia, South Carolina, with Gable putting the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Given Gable’s reputation as one of WWE’s premier in-ring technicians and his history of elevating younger talent, a televised version of that match on NXT programming would make sense — both as a credibility boost for Shugars and as further proof the main roster and NXT titles can meaningfully cross paths.

The third is a tag team situation that’s gone unresolved on television for months. Bron Breakker and Austin Theory, representing The Vision, won back the World Tag Team Championship on the July 6 episode of Raw and have not defended the belts on TV since — a gap of over 100 days. They have, however, defended against Oba Femi and LA Knight repeatedly on the house show circuit, including matches on August 20, 22, 23, 29 and 30. Femi has already been building a singles résumé against Vision members, including a September 6 Saturday Night’s Main Event clash with Breakker and a Money in the Bank win over Bronson Reed. With plenty of speculation that a World Heavyweight Championship run awaits Femi down the line, following the Cody Rhodes blueprint of claiming tag gold first — with Knight as his partner — would be a sensible stepping stone before The Vision’s stranglehold on the tag division is finally broken on screen.

None of these matchups have been officially confirmed for television, but WWE’s pattern of converting house show programs into on-screen storylines makes all three worth watching. The Vision’s extended tag title reign in particular has become conspicuous simply by how long it’s gone undefended on Raw or SmackDown, and with Femi’s stock rising, it feels like only a matter of time before that dynamic plays out in front of the cameras. Whether any of these three actually materialize on Raw, SmackDown or an upcoming premium live event remains to be seen, but the groundwork has clearly already been laid out on the road.