After over a year of Performance Center and ThunderDome tapings, WWE will finally welcome back fans in July.
While fans were present across two nights for WrestleMania 37, WWE superstars have performed in front of no one or a virtual audience since March 2020.
Speaking to the Dallas Morning News, Drew McIntyre discussed how the ThunderDome era helped certain performers and why it will pay off when crowds return.
"I watched a few of our talent come out and they were looking at imaginary people and I was like, 'Oh, this is cringeworthy.' If it's cringeworthy for me, there's probably a disconnect with our fans. I was very adamant about walking out and embracing what was around me. I would mess around the commentators, if the camera got too close, I'd shake it around. I kept trying different things. When it came to the interviews themselves, obviously we generally have 20,000 people screaming over top of you and you have to raise your voice and a lot of them are shouting because you are trying to hear yourself over the crowd and you're participating with the crowd and going with what they're giving you. Sometimes, they're giving you the 'What' treatment and trying to entertain themselves when you're talking so you have to deviate from the script. Without fans, it's just silence and it makes things very different. I saw it as an opportunity. If you know who you are and you know your character, you had a chance to develop that character on such a deeper level and add layers. You can speak without having to raise your voice. A lot of people really maximized their minutes and developed their character. When we're back in front of live fans on a regular basis, I think the fans are going to understand these characters on a deeper level than they would have if we didn't have this period," he said.
Seth Rollins previously commented that he believed WWE was able to tell cleaner stories in the ThunderDome as there were no "CM Punk" chants to interrupt him. He also noted that he did miss live fan interaction. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
You can learn more about WWE returning to live events by clicking here.
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