House show main events
By Scott Keith on 28 July 2021
As we all know, in the old days, Bruno/Backlund/Hogan/etc. would go on in the middle of the show. The universally accepted reason is so that they could announce the main event for the next show before intermission and immediately start selling tickets, while
still protecting kayfabe (also, if it was a matinee, it gave him time to get out of the building and get to a nearby city to go on last at another show the same evening). However, I'm wondering if either of the following were also considerations for structuring
the shows that way:
1) They don't want the possibility of punters leaving before the main event for whatever reason (people have to go to work the following morning; parents don't want to keep their kids out too late). Sure, they've already got their money, but it's still not
a great look.
2) If the main event goes on last, they run the risk of the match being cut off by curfew, if they happen to be in a building where that's strictly enforced.
For sure the curfew thing was a consideration. Less so with Hogan but you never knew when Backlund was gonna go an hour with Greg Valentine. I’ve heard it takes him 15:00 just to get warmed up!