So, how did AEW handle having to do an empty arena show?

[Tiger Millionaire]

Not that anyone should be prepared for this kind of situation, but it really doesn't fit what WWE has done with their product, especially over the past 10 years, which is to just make everything bigger, grander. When you take the fans away from that, and strip it down, it just has a real sterile feel.

[Lupin the Third]

It had Vanguard 1.

Best show ever.

[sportatorium]

Mar 19, 2020 0:49:43 GMT -5 King Devitt said:

Mar 18, 2020 23:39:59 GMT -5 sportatorium said:

It was a great show. Jericho should just be out there on commentary the whole show.

Two times during the show I had to pause my DVR because I was laughing so hard.

First one was Hangman's "been social distancing since November" on his intro, and the other was when Jericho called Arn's sheet a Waffle House menu.

I f***ing laughed so hard I was crying.

Those & “Arn hit him with his notepad, that’s no good”.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Mar 19, 2020 5:55:33 GMT -5 Ash Kingston said:

They did a lot of things right.

-Focused the camera on the set, instead of the empty seats.

I didn’t even notice this until Alvarez pointed it, but looking back that’s a huge reason this had a better atmosphere.

If Mania happens, WWE absolutely has to rip off AEW’s ideas here.

[deezy]

Mar 19, 2020 7:00:04 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Mar 19, 2020 6:55:20 GMT -5 deezy said:

They did ok. They had an advantage of not being the first to do it. I think AEW, Raw and Smackdown all did well considering the circumstances.

Smackdown did ok, AEW did really well imo

RAW was a dumpster fire though, even with the circumstances, the drop off in quality in comparison to Smackdown which had like no preperation going into it, is baffling.

I don't think Raw was as bad as some made it out to be and I don't think AEW was perfect as some make it out to be. Smackdown was decent considering it was the first show to do the empty arena. All 3 did a great job imo.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

AEW gave us a good wrestling show. Compared to Raw which was an hour of replaying the Royal Rumble. hardly any real matches and a bunch if in ring promos. AEW at less did what they could to make sure there fans watching at home got a good show. It seemed the talent where having more fun with it and making the best of the situation. It came off more entertaining because of it.

[Dang!]

I watched Dynamite as a whole and I zapped into RAW for a few minutes and it seems to me that AEW yet again handled it better. I can't really judge because I only watched parts of an Edge Interview on RAW which totally looked like a rehearsal and had no vibes of an actual wrestling show at all. Dynamite at least felt like a wrestling show and parts of the roster at ringside and the way they played with the empty arena as a "gimmick" had way more appeal to me than the sterile (albeit that's probably a not bad thing right now) feeling I got from RAW.

[sunnytaker]

Mar 19, 2020 0:49:43 GMT -5 King Devitt said:

Mar 18, 2020 23:39:59 GMT -5 sportatorium said:

It was a great show. Jericho should just be out there on commentary the whole show.

Two times during the show I had to pause my DVR because I was laughing so hard.

First one was Hangman's "been social distancing since November" on his intro, and the other was when Jericho called Arn's sheet a Waffle House menu.

I f***ing laughed so hard I was crying.

I think you meant "Handswash" Page.

[XIII]

The wrestlers in the seats added a lot really. It allowed some character development without giving them featured segments, made the show less boring, and gave it a bit more energy. Anything is better than wrestlers half-asking it through the same old spots to silence.