Pro Wrestling Without Crowds Is A Bizarre, Dreamy Delight
Coronavirus has changed the way just about everybody on earth lives. Seemingly routine tasks, such as going to the supermarket or buying coffee, have been interrupted by quarantine and preventative measures to stop the spread of the virus. Sports are canceled, movie releases delayed and Tom Hanks is isolated in Australia.
But the virus can't stop everything. Airing for the first time without an audience, WWE returned to television last week with empty stands and wrestlers screaming to no one. For those who don't regularly watch professional wrestling, however, videos of the event were shared by the WWE yesterday, and boy, are they weird or what. Shot from inside the WWE's own empty auditorium, the wrestlers, putting the "pro" in "professional wrestling," still aim for the back of the rafters, even though there is no one there.
WE ARE LIVE ON @FOXTV pic.twitter.com/hqgayGaK7b
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) March 14, 2020
Silence is not something anyone would associate with pro-wrestling and without crowds to chant "this sucks" and "boring," we're left with something that resembles "sitcoms without laugh tracks": or one of Vic Berger's ghoulish edits. Check out some clips below:
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Cyphon
Now I admit I'm not an expert on WWE, but if I'm not mistaken, isn't "pro wrestling without anyone in the audience" just basically the same thing as "Jinder Mahal matches"?
Pandarens
Mania is gonna be so fucking surreal this year, and I'm hoping WWE just goes all-in on it. Have Vinny Mac as the sole audience member, sitting on a giant throne like a king, or have all the roaster hanging around the ring like the Thunderdome and prerecord certain things like entrances and add special effects. Go crazy with it.
George Costanza
Jerma did it first, big deal.
Mono Bear
on the bright side, this may get WWE to get creative for once. I only wish this happened while Matt Hardy was around, maybe… MAYBE they'll actually let him do more of his wonderful shticks.
I'm still mad they wasted his broken, brilliant talents
Nebulabelt765
I have an older brother that is super into pro wrestling like WWE, AEW, and such, he tells me about some of the things that that goes on like story lines and beef between wrestlers, as well as WWE's idiotic tendencies. One thing he said however, is that when the chips are down and WWE is backed into a corner, they will put out some of their best performances out of desperation. To him, this night was one of them
He told me that one of their best shows in the decade happened recently because some of their "best men" was on their way to do their Arabian show but their flight was canceled and left them stranded. Without them on the home front for the Monday show, they had to get their underused new blood out to fill in their place, resulting in their finest hour.
Don't quote me on this, I know nothing about pro wrestling other then surface level memes and Jim Ross.
rysziz
Yeah that's been their habit for a while. Usually the shows fans are initially down on will end up being some of their best, WrestleMania 31 being a prime example. No one really cared for the main event match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, save for Reigns' family given that they threw a bitchfit when he lost, but the card ended up being fantastic almost the whole way through and is now regarded as one of the best WMs in the companies history.