A funny thing happened at a WWE house show in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Andrade beat Rey Mysterio for the United States championship.
Yep, you read that right. Andrade beat Rey Mysterio for the United States championship.
What’s strange about this is the WWE has shied away from title changes at house shows for a while now, preferring to keep them to one of their regular shows (Raw, Smackdown) or pay-per-views.
This has changed with the advent of the 24 hour championship, but it also brings up a good question.
Are house shows canon now?
During the WWF period of WWE, titles changed hands regularly at house shows. The reason was to give local fans an occasional glimpse of something they may only see on television, but also the lack of broadcasting during the era.
Over the years, WWE house shows are the WWE’s grassroots effort to keep close to the fans, and they have become dressed rehearsal platforms for the wrestlers to test out new moves, their plans for an upcoming match, and to work out any kinks they may have. The WWE had also adopted a policy of only their televised shows being canon and what happens afterwards or at house shows weren’t.
Andrade becomes the new United States champion by defeating Rey Mysterio at Madison Square Garden #WWEMSG #andnew pic.twitter.com/wtwkigzmdE
— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) December 27, 2019
That appears to have changed now. At least to a point.
So what happens now?
There’s no denying Andrade has talent, which means this is the start to his push to bigger and better things. This should also open up opportunities for other things on Raw since they won’t have to worry about the time it takes to show a televised match. But knowing them, they’ll spend the time having Andrade and Mysterio exchange words before there’s a rematch. With any luck, there’ll be a different challenger for the US title. Probably Humberto Carrillo. Wanna guess what the odds of this are?
As for Rey Mysterio, it’s been rumored he’s been waiting for his son, Dominic, to step into the main brands to retire. His matches have been short and not nearly as exciting as they used to be. It could be injuries, overall fatigue, or a mental block given some of his misfortunes over the years.
Whatever the reason is, maybe the WWE thought this was the best way to have Mysterio drop the title instead of tying up time on Raw with it.
Either way it goes, if a title is going to change hands at a house show, there’s few better than Madison Square Garden. It and the WWE have a shared history that goes way back, and this is another chapter in that story.
In what should be an interesting angle on Raw next week, Zelina Vega has even more reason to praise Andrade. This should be interesting.
