WWE is set to host events for the foreseeable future at the WWE Performance Center with no live audience, including WrestleMania 36. In a sport where crowd reaction is everything, having performances with no audience has made for an awkward viewing experience.
And Jerry Lawler ponders if WWE should start piping in crowd noise.
“I’ve been to (football) training camps where the players go through their practice sessions with loud music or crowd noise piped in,” Lawler told Commercial Appeal. “I don’t think it would hurt anything at all if they piped in some crowd noise behind the matches. And even explain it to the fans. It’ll make the matches more entertaining and it’ll make it easier for the performers themselves.”
WWE has limited matches and promos on recent episodes of Raw and SmackDown, showing matches from recent WWE Network events and video packages to help fill time. But WrestleMania 36 will continue as scheduled with Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Goldberg, Edge and more in action.
"You’ve got all those big matches already signed. Edge and Randy Orton. Brock Lesnar against Drew McIntyre. Undertaker and A.J. Styles. All those big, huge matches taking place in front of no fans. And, the Performance Center is not much bigger than the old Channel 5 studio (where ‘Memphis Wrestling’ was filmed). I don’t know — everything’s changing by the minute now. (But) the WWE has always been and still is a TV company and pay-per-view company. Who knows, this may end up breaking every pay-per-view record there is," said Lawler
WWE announced on Wednesday that WrestleMania 36 now take place across two nights and multiple locations.
