I assume this is what Wrestlemania will have to be. If I was vince I would postpone it a month or two.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff you could do in an empty arena, and they didn't do any of it. Running most of the matches exactly like how you would in front of 10,000 people was just weird. If this is how it's going to be for the next bit, they really need to figure some stuff out.
I agree with that assessment. The performers playing to the "crowd" made me laugh.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Originally posted by Tenken347I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff you could do in an empty arena, and they didn't do any of it. Running most of the matches exactly like how you would in front of 10,000 people was just weird. If this is how it's going to be for the next bit, they really need to figure some stuff out.
Yeah - Miz & Morrison making jokes about no one booing them is clever, but Sasha cutting a promo all around the room instead of right into the camera was silly. They can get way more creative with all of this *and* it doesn't have to be live even! (Unless it does for contractual USA/Fox reasons?)
They HAVE to cancel Mania - Vince is playing a stupid game of chicken with Tampa and the state of Florida.
And we'll see where this all goes...once someone in a locker room is positively tested for COVID-19, then it's just like the Utah Jazz.
So surreal...I went to an indie show last Saturday night (and Elimination Chamber on Sunday, I didn't feel unsafe at the time) and it had a bigger crowd than Smackdown just 6 nights later.
I'm wondering if Vince not canceling has something to do with an insurance payout. Maybe if he cancels it he doesn't get the money, but if the city of Tampa or Florida does then he will.
Originally posted by Spiraling_Shape
Originally posted by Tenken347I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff you could do in an empty arena, and they didn't do any of it. Running most of the matches exactly like how you would in front of 10,000 people was just weird. If this is how it's going to be for the next bit, they really need to figure some stuff out.
Yeah - Miz & Morrison making jokes about no one booing them is clever, but Sasha cutting a promo all around the room instead of right into the camera was silly. They can get way more creative with all of this *and* it doesn't have to be live even! (Unless it does for contractual USA/Fox reasons?)
They HAVE to cancel Mania - Vince is playing a stupid game of chicken with Tampa and the state of Florida.
And we'll see where this all goes...once someone in a locker room is positively tested for COVID-19, then it's just like the Utah Jazz.
So surreal...I went to an indie show last Saturday night (and Elimination Chamber on Sunday, I didn't feel unsafe at the time) and it had a bigger crowd than Smackdown just 6 nights later.
Lisa: Poor predicatble Bart, always picks rock Bart: Good ole rock, nothing beats that
Welp - Mania, the GRANDADDY OF 'EM ALL, is going to be run in front of almost nobody in a state-of-the-art gymnasium. They really should’ve cancelled it... Mania needs the pomp and circumstance and atmosphere. We all saw Becky's custom truck last night, right? That was *clearly* made for her Wrestlemania entrance and they didn't want to 'waste' it.
Do you want to see Drew’s big defeat of Brock in front of no one? How about Charlotte vs. Rhea with ZERO reaction?
AND what if someone gets sick before then??
Just cancel Mania, run these weird house show-y & promos TV eps with a skeleton crew as long as you can and then pick up the storylines for future PPVs.
Empty-arena WM seems dumb. Push it back to June or so. If you're determined to run something the original WM night, do a "supershow" or something like that from the PC.
Originally posted by dwatersAs bad as having no WrestleMania seems, the idea of an empty arena Wrestlmania is just DEPRESSING.
For real. They can barely bring themselves to put together these RAWs and Smackdowns. Half the show is a match from a PPV. What will a four-hour+ show full of nothing but matches in front of dead silence accomplish?
I figured they throw in those EC and RR matches in order to keep everything cheap and to a minimum.
These things so far are hit and miss. Sasha was lame, Miz & Morrison were clever. Edge was intense (he played to the cam) and Austin was bad. While technically they probably would've done it like this live too (why did Byron rate him??) SCSA needs a crowd.
Triple H doing all on SD was great. Asuka on commentary was great (until they run her into the ground as a comedy schtick)
WM needs to be a spectacle. It relies on this because it's no longer about good (great) wrestling.
But IF they (he) insists on doing this, be smart and start pretaping stuff NOW so a)you can edit matches to look good and b) you don't put large groups of crew and wrestlers at risk. Be smart and let guys that can move, let them go wild. Rhea vs Charlotte, Owens vs Rollins, Edge vs Orton and some others could be a great matches but not in the current main-roster format where everyone is slow.
Granted, his last match should've been WMs ago, but imagine this being Taker's last WM match - or last match period - and it's in a small building with no crowd. What a way to go.
I just got done AEW and thought it was a great show. It helped that some big storyline things happened (I won't spoil anything here), but putting wrestlers in the audience was a really smart move. It didn't feel nearly as eerie as SmackDown.
Smackdown went better than RAW, IMO. Some of that was a result of it being done first, and the new format feeling fresher. Smackdown also felt like it had more of a serious tone, but I get why they couldn't keep that tone going two times a week for the next few months.
Certain wrestlers clearly had their heart in it more than others. Also with as focused on presenting "large crowd" shows as WWE style is, some of the wrestlers definitely seemed like fish out of water without the fans to riff off of.
AEW tonight did a lot better than RAW in how they used the empty arena. The new normal is going to work well for them. Their mainly recent indies crew is also probably a lot more used to wrestling with just a handful of people watching live. (AEW also had a fantastic show overall tonight aesthetics aside.)
I've previously said that the WWE format of shows hasn't been working for me, but the small arena, less flashy feel of this week was much more my style.
I will probably be ordering Wrestlemania for the first time since 2004 to see how they make the empty arena feel special. Artistically, I'm expecting that they will find a way to make it pretty interesting.
That AEW show absolutely dunked on what WWE's been doing. Even a handful of people at ringside making noise improves the product dramatically, and the AEW crew really seemed like they were trying to have fun with it, which, uh, is not how I would describe most of the WWE workers. Even NXT this week was more a show about wrestling than an actual wrestling show. I guess WWE's going to pre-taped shows at this point, which is a much better idea, but they still need to work something out.
As a non WWE watcher now they have changed channels here in the UK, and haven't seen the AEW show yet as it hasn't been shown here because it doesn't seem that we are important I can only comment on clips I have seen here and there...
WWE need to change what they are doing as it isn't effective. There were a lot of big events that just didn't seem to work, and Byron must be annoyed that he got kicked in the bollocks after a wasted part of the show. They need to change things, especially if they are taping 'Mania in different locations with no fans or it isn't going to work. They didn't think NXT was worth it so not confident of what will happen.
AEW tried hard an it was sad to see 2 major events play out to nothing. Many were excite to see Lee debut, and the play to Wyatts move was great before the clothesline but would have been amazing with a crowd. Hardy does nothing for me, the crowd would have loved it and made it better.
Anyway in the big picture none of my thoughts mean much apart from wishing all of you the best and look forward to reading your comments over shows that happen later in the year that are as normal as wrestling fans get. And few of use will agree on that either
Disappointed that Wrestlemania will be taped and then shows on April 4 and 5. I can't see myself avoiding the online spoilers until then, which makes things that much less special. I wonder why they couldn't still do it live?
Originally posted by HokienauticDisappointed that Wrestlemania will be taped and then shows on April 4 and 5. I can't see myself avoiding the online spoilers until then, which makes things that much less special. I wonder why they couldn't still do it live?
From a health point of view (and ofcourse that is the most important) this allows WWE to get around the "no groups of people" because they can limit the number of people at (each) location at any time.
2 wrestlers, small crew, commentary added later. it all makes sense.
Also, let's be honest there is no point in doing it live. Then you just get a 'normal' show in a small empty arena. Without atmosphere and without a chance to make it look great.
Now they can work around the limits and hopefully they do so. Special effects and many different type of matches. If needed do reshoots or alternative angles so the crappy matches look special.
On Raw it was announced AJ vs Taker will now be a 'bone yard match' or something like that. So they can have a nice fun graveyard setting.
Edge vs Orton can use the complete empty arena they are in. Etc etc.
I assume they're doing it on closed sets anyways, so hopefully there won't be spoilers anyways. Also, I assume they are gonna tape different finishes anyways so they can always use the best one OR change the result if spoilers appear
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