World Wrestling Entertainment hosted the first big crowd in over 12 months.
Tampa, America – Handmade flags, foam fingers, wrath and rapture.
All that and more eventually came back to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when the organisation hosted the first major crowd in over a year, and did so at its biggest show – WrestleMania.
“I personally missed the crowd interaction immensely,” said Paul Heyman, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns’ on-screen boss.
“There’s a degree of enthusiasm for WWE fans that I would dare to say is unparalleled globally, and an unrivalled intimacy we share with our audience.”
On Tampa’s first two-night action, the energy was palpable.
Although the 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium was less than half complete due to social distancing steps, spectators nevertheless created a special atmosphere.
‘A Special Moment’
John Clark, travelling from Pennsylvania State College, described the scene as “amazing.”
“It looked like more fans attended. We’ve all been too long and that must have driven us to be louder, “he said.
Clark, a self-proclaimed “super fan,” said the show started at the most special moment. All the talent was behind WWE chairman Vince McMahon, who shared how much they missed the fans and thanked them for coming.
“Certain wrestlers had tears streaming down their cheeks. Any fans. It was a special moment for everyone, “Clark said.
With host state Florida recording more than two million COVID-19 cases and about 80 percent of the U.S. population not yet vaccinated, protection was a major concern for WWE.
In addition to socially distant seating, a range of steps was introduced, including compulsory fans wearing masks and temperature checks on arrival.
However, WWE’s safety plan was seriously checked early. An incoming storm prompted a loud announcement that the show was postponed and fans could take refuge in the contest.
At stadium floor exits, Al Jazeera witnessed crowding, and there were mixed feelings among fans about how the situation was handled.
Waterloo, Iowa, Jason Kohls said he thought the event workers did a good job.
“We kept distance as we left, and we had the whole underground contest we might go to. My friend and I were in a corner, “he said.
Clark had a very different experience, calling it “chaotic.”
“Social distance wasn’t applied anywhere, we were all much closer than 6 feet [2.5 metres]. Everyone was wearing masks, but there was no particular attempt to keep away from people. There wasn’t space to do that regardless, either, “Clark said.
It also appeared that although most fans were wearing masks, a handful of them failed, with some guilty ones turning up on the venue’s huge video screens.
Nonetheless, the show resumed after a 30-minute disruption.
Chandran Nambiar, who flew to WrestleMania from Los Angeles, said, “It was a great display. It’s been really healthy. Fans scattered around. “
Clark added: “I don’t regret coming, and I’ll be back for night two confidently.”
Hearing such remarks would be music to WWE officials’ ears, keen to make this year’s WrestleMania extra special after a tough 12 months.
After being classified as an urgent company in Florida at the start of the pandemic, to many’s surprise, WWE kept filming on closed sets.
Yet programmes lacked atmosphere without fans and TV ratings plummeted.
His weekly flagship programme, Raw, averaged 1,880 million US viewers per episode in 2020, down from 2,418 million a year earlier.
Nonetheless, faced with adversity, the organisation showed it could adapt.
In an attempt to win back fans, WWE created a weekly programming virtual arena known as the Thunderdome, featuring hundreds of live fan streams from around the world around the ring.
Like English Premier League football matches during the pandemic, crowd noise poured in to fuel the atmosphere.
These efforts received a massive vote of confidence in January when NBC signed a $1bn agreement to add WWE content to its streaming service, Peacock.
‘Show must continue’
Taking into account both challenges and victories, Heyman, 55, believes WWE’s resourcefulness bodes well for the future.
“We’ll adjust to any scenario and circumstance we face, because there are people who rely on WWE entertainment.
“I think it’s WWE’s big credit that we’ve never missed a week of television [during the pandemic]. None. None. Not one week. It didn’t even take weeks or a month to adapt. We’ve just forged ahead. That’s the mentality of this multinational conglomerate that the show must continue whatever happens. “
WWE returns to its virtual arena after WrestleMania, and it’s unclear when fans will make a lasting comeback.
Hopefully, everyone who attended in Tampa would remain in good health, and the only price charged for their live-action fix was the admission fee.
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