In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a large number of changes that most entertainment companies have had to make in order to function in this new landscape with the WWE being no different, and it seems like the ThunderDome, a bi-product of these developments, is here to stay though potentially might not be at the Amway Center moving forward. With live audiences unable to gather in large crowds for obvious reasons in an effort to “flatten the curve” overall, the ThunderDome was a stroke of genius to help retain the feeling of days past.
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For those who might not be familiar, the concept of the ThunderDome is that the wrestling ring is surrounded by numerous screens where fans can watch the wrestlers brawl from the comfort of their own homes. Across the board during the WWE’s weekly shows and their monthly pay-per-view events, ThunderDome has been present and has helped to create an environment similar to that which was present prior to the coronavirus pandemic. In this third quarter economic call for 2020, it was clear that this new method of audiences was here to stay, though the creative minds behind World Wrestling Entertainment were far more tight lipped when it came to its future at the Amway Center.
The Amway Center is currently located in Florida, being transformed into a venue that could facilitate this brand new style for audiences to participate in the matches of the WWE. Clearly, with so much changing in 2020, it is no surprise to see that the WWE heads aren’t confident to say that this will be the future location of the ThunderDome down the line.
On top of the ThunderDome, World Wrestling Entertainment has also taken the opportunity to shift how some of their matches are filmed, with Wrestlemania starting the ball by giving us two distinct matches in “The Boneyard Match” and “Firefly Funhouse”. Both of these matches were “pre-recorded” and were able to be far more cinematic as a result, and several matches have followed suit to a level of success that means we’ll definitely see more of these take place down the road.
What do you think of ThunderDome within the WWE so far? Would you like to be a member of its audience in the future? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of professional wrestling!
