Unfortunately, in 2020, people have had to accept certain things have been altered and will be that way for some time. Travel is restricted and not everything is open. In sports, “the new normal” is that all sports are operating on reduced capacity venues or empty venues altogether. Wrestlemania went from eighty thousand fans in a football stadium to zero fans inside the Performance Centre in Florida. Fans in stadiums are definitely missed in sports, and it has impacted products. Ratings are down and it can be harder to watch than what was standard viewing back in January. But is it all bad news? Here are the good and bad points for no fans in wrestling…
No fans, No atmosphere
The first few weeks in the Performance center with nobody in the audience was very weird. No cheering or booing, no chanting and every boot squeak and rope bounce could be heard. The addition of superstars at ringside and the Thunderdome added some much needed noise for the superstars to feed of of. The problem is that the noise is too sanitised. Every face gets the same volume of positive response and every heel gets the same volume of negative response. There is no gauge of popularity. It feels like the viewer is watching a sitcom with canned laughter. One beauty of a crowd is that they get behind superstars and management can see who people want to see. In theory, giving the fans what they want means people will keep watching and possibly draw new viewers.
Fans can’t be trusted!
Unfortunately, a few bad apples can spoil the cart. In the first few shows of the Thunderdome era, some very inappropriate images came onto the fan screens. It can be safe to presume that WWE has got this more under control, as these incidents have not repeated themselves. On some televised and house shows, there have been several bouts of misbehavior. These have ranged from beach balls being thrown around, to some unwanted touching of superstars by fans. Both Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss have fallen victim to fans getting too close for comfort.
No Chants
While some chants are entertaining and make the show more enjoyable, there are some that really do not. Take WWE Stomping Ground 2019 as an example. During the Daniel Bryan match, there were chants of “please recycle” and “drive a prius.” Original, entertaining and relevant, as it was during Bryan’s obnoxious eco-warrior run. Unfortunately, this kind of creativity won’t be heard until fans are allowed back. But at least we don’t have to hear the what chant! Most fans die a little inside when that four letter word is repeated after every line of a promo.
While most understand the circumstances and the reason behind it, fans are missed. The first show with a full stadium of in person fans will be electric. When that will be is still unknown. It shouldn’t be until it is safe to do so. But while fans miss the visual and the organic sound, there are some bits that it is nice to not see on our screens for a few more months…
Image credits
