With the coronavirus pandemic forcing pro wrestling companies to hold events inside arenas with no fans in attendance (when they’re able to hold them at all), AEW made the creative choice to have wrestlers sit in the front rows and cheer during matches on last week’s Dynamite. The move was well-received as it gave each match some much-needed fan reactions that the recent WWE shows from the empty Performance Center have been lacking. However the company was forced to pull back on that this week, removing all wrestlers from the crowd and allowing only a small handful in a backstage area that the camera would occasionally cut back to.
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According to Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer, this was a move made by AEW to agree with state laws about mass gatherings and social distancing.
“The rule was no more than 10 people there at one time,” Meltzer explained on Wrestling Observer Radio. “They had to have Brandi as the ring announcer, they had to have a referee, they had to have the people filming it…that number adds up and they couldn’t go over 10.”
“Logically, 15 people or even 50 people in that big building, you can be so far away that it shouldn’t be that bad, but they did not dictate the rules,” he added. “Those rules were dictated to them. By the way the rules were dictated, they couldn’t have any wrestlers in the stands this time.”
Those rules were also likely the reason why a previously advertised lumberjack match between Wardlow and Luchasaurus never happened. All future episodes of AEW Dynamite up until the Double or Nothing pay-per-view have been moved to the Daily’s Place Amphitheater in Jacksonville, which is owned by the Khan family. As of now, Double or Nothing is still on the schedule for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Last night’s Dynamite featured a face-to-face between Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega beating Sammy Guevara to retain the AAA Mega Championship and Cody Rhodes pulling off a win over Jimmy Havoc. Midway through the show Jon Moxley brawled with Jake Hager, indicating that the latter would be the first challenger for his AEW World Championship.
This week’s Dynamite was supposed to feature the 10-man Blood & Guts match between The Elite and The Inner CIrcle. However the company announced the match had been pushed back to a late date.
