WWE ThunderDome is coming to SmackDown this Friday but got a test run too
WWE decided to test its ThunderDome concept ahead of its live debut on Friday, and some images have been shared on social media.
While WWE has been one of the shows that has run right from the time coronavirus spread across the United States, they haven’t been able to get the fans inside arenas.
This is part of their safety measures to control the spread of the virus. However, many WWE Performance Center athletes have acted as audience members on its three shows.
That has brought a bit of atmosphere back into the events, however, ThunderDome should change all that.
This allows fans to be virtually present during the matches, and it is to be seen what other aspects are part of this concept.
This week’s SmackDown sees the debut of the concept. However, a test run of sorts was conducted recently too.
Fans split over ThunderDome
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful shared some images from the concept, and it felt pretty much the same thing that the NBA has done with its screen showing off fans.
F1 has also done that in select regions of racetracks. However, WWE has used many smaller screens to get more videos of their fans.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) August 20, 2020
Sapp also retweeted a screengrab from a Twitter user called Jeremy Lambert. It seems he also was registered for the service and it provided a better view of all that was going on at ThunderDome.
I have seats in the first two rows. pic.twitter.com/svIE0XZ5nb
— Jeremy Lambert (@jeremylambert88) August 20, 2020
One thing that many pointed out was that people were repeated on some of the screens, while some weren’t impressed with all this:
Just when you think the WWE couldn't look worse with the seizure camera cuts every second of a match, they one up themselves with this
— Seba Le DOOP (@Call_Me_ZoomE) August 21, 2020
I really hate the clone effect it’s like a 2k WWE game 😄
— Chris (@chris_panico) August 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/brooklynbvnks/status/1296575069192359936?s=20
Why do they have the same people in multiple squares?
— Brave Introvert/"You know what that means" (@introvert_brave) August 20, 2020
This looks #notgood
— tim (@Timmah_Kutz) August 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/JamesPayette/status/1296593951856586753?s=20
That’s so obnoxious and distracting. I’ll try and give it chance, maybe give them a little time to fine tune it. pic.twitter.com/5zESIlVgqW
— 🧀WEDGE WEDGE🧀 (@SirWedgie) August 21, 2020
Not going to lie but that looks really bad, camera should still face the ramp with the LEDs mainly used for graphics with the crowds occasionally appearing or being used for crowd shots
— AW316 (@AGamer316) August 20, 2020
Others believed that WWE needs time to get this right, and this was only a test:
It's definitely strange but give it to the WWE to try something that really hasn't been done before
— Curtis H. (@thegibble) August 20, 2020
I like it the only thing I would like for them to add is the actual crowd noise of that crowd into the arena instead of being piped in to the tv. if they can pull that off that will make it better.
— sendo (@sendokicks23) August 21, 2020
Honestly anything is better than having people beat on Plexiglass for 3 hours
— GeekSwag 👳🏾♂️🤓💪🏾🧙🏻♂️ (@MikeySezz) August 20, 2020
Will need to get used to it but it looks so much better than the pc
— Yusuf (@xtremezdonz) August 20, 2020
It will be interesting to see how things work out on SmackDown. The test has split the WWE Universe and SmackDown on Friday will be a real litmus test of this concept.
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