I’ve been thinking about this since I watched opening day of the MLB and the restart of the NBA over the past two weeks. Both of these sports are doing a lot of different things with their presentation to replace fans in the stands. And I was wondering if any of their ideas would work for WWE/AEW/any other promotion?
Ideas from MLB:
Cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands. Most teams are selling these cardboard printings with the money going to charities.
Virtual Fans. Since the bubble NBA courts don’t have seats they instead have a video wall showing live streams of fans watching the games and cheering them on.
I really don’t think I’d be a fan of it. I think MLB’s idea to sell a seat to a cutout isn’t a bad idea. But to be totally honest, I have zero interest in seeing virtual wrestling fans in the Performance Center crowd. I think there’s a pretty stark contrast in pro sports fans versus wrestling fans …and I just can’t picture it working aesthetically, to help improve the environment, etc. Piped crowd noise and the NXTras suffice
Reliving the Tout era is still a nightmare I have every so often
I don’t like either of those ideas to be honest but I didn’t like the idea of fake crowd noise to begin with in football (soccer) but it ended up working quite well.
No WWE Superstars don’t fight, they sports entertain because they love putting smiles on faces. It’s all about having fun and putting on a show for the WWE Universe!
It’s hilarious that you’re saying that to make fun of WWE, which is completely fair, but you’ll obviously not apply that same standard across the board. AEW have the exact same mentality, as do Impact. Mainstream, variety show, PR friendly shows that’s just about having a good time. WWE to be fair are actually the ones most willing to do controversial storylines which upset the overly sensitive…
Being fair and objective unfortunately isn’t something most on the forum like do though. Unfortunate.
Everyone knows AEW is a joke, I read they’ve asked several top name legends to appear on their show and have had to settle for lower level legends like Eric Bischoff
I hate having fake crowds of any kind. I hate the fake noise and cardboard cutouts are lame as well. I find all of these gimmicks annoying.
Wrestlers in the crowd dont make sense either. You get forced fake reactions. It can not replace real reactions from fans letting you know if something is working or not.
I have seen the virtual fans many weeks ago while watching soccer. North Americans act like it is something new. Since soccer is not a real sport to them. Just listen to the north american podcast hosts at post wrestling. TFC never gets metioned even when they win the MLS cup or are in the final. They keep wondering what other sports are going to do when they come back. Soccer in europe has been back for quite a while but it does not get mentioned much over here in the news. MLS has also been back way before the other North American leagues. Media in Toronto only cares about NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL. I had to get that off my chest. I also dont like the virtual fans since they are on mute and cant yell or sing which would add to the atmosphere.
