Originally published on ProWrestlingSheet.

WWE ThunderDome made its debut on SmackDown last night in an attempt to somewhat recreate the feel of shows before the pandemic, but did it work? Here are our thoughts.

WWE THUNDERDOME PROS

Feeling like a WWE show again: Last night's episode of SmackDown once again felt like a flagship WWE show, as opposed to one of their secondary programs featuring developing talent. It just felt big. This makes a huge difference when it comes to the WWE product. The Performance Center era came out of circumstance and the company has done the best they could amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, but the shows just didn't look the same. Fans missed the large arena setting and the people behind the scenes seemed to as well, as the shows were starting to feel uninspired to a certain degree. This refresh with a new location has seemingly reinvigorated every corner of the company though and it showed on TV in the ThunderDome. 

Overall presentation: The lights. The pyro. The smoke. The Titantron. Giant video walls. A digital roof. Massive lighting rig. All of these things help so much visually compared to what they had at their disposal at the Performance Center. WWE prides themselves on having one of the best production teams for live events in the industry and that was on full display last night. These characters are supposed to be larger-than-life, but it's hard to feel that way when they're in a small warehouse setting. Wrestlers like AJ Styles, Bayley and Sasha Banks having pyro during their entrances added to their superstar presence and helped keep the viewer's attention throughout the show. The arena being one giant video wall during entrances also enhanced each wrestler's walk to the ring in a way that does feel on the level of WrestleMania.

Look of virtual crowd: The drone shots of the virtual crowd looked fantastic. Seeing thousands of virtual faces behind the wrestlers in the ring showed the company is doing the best they can to get them back in the arena safely. There are some things that need to be adjusted (we'll get to that in the cons), but the concept could be a big hit for WWE if they fix a few things. Even seeing a person holding a title belt in the front row (from home), made it feel like an actual WWE event that you were watching. Not something where the trainees in the crowd are only slightly interested.

WWE THUNDERDOME CONS

Noise and energy of virtual crowd: While the virtual crowd may look great, something needs to be done about their noise and energy levels. Fans sitting back and watching the show like they would at home, as opposed to being rowdy like they would in person, is not going to look great on television. It also won't help with the audience noise aspect of the virtual audience, since it'll just force WWE to continue using enhanced crowd audio. This could be a simple fix though, as I noticed when doing the test preview that no direction was given to the audience beforehand. Even at WWE live events they instruct the crowd to cheer a bunch before the show begins. Something as simple as this would go a long way. WWE could even steal a page from the old Impact tapings and let every audience member know beforehand that the "loudest and rowdiest" member of the virtual audience will get a free WWE shirt or Zoom call with a Superstar. Scripted shows that record in front of a live audience also have warmup people to get the crowd hyped and a big sign letting the crowd know when to make noise. That could be a useful tool for the ThunderDome audience as well.

Lack of wrestlers interacting with virtual crowd: WWE hyped up the ThunderDome as a new virtual fan experience, which it seems to have the capability to be, but they didn't make one attempt to be interactive with the crowd again. I expected at least one promo that would've brought attention to the giant digital elephant in the room. It was also weird when Otis looked into the face of one of the fans and they had zero reaction, so he quickly looked away. These are things that obviously need to be worked out as WWE continues to utilize this new technology, but this was the only real disappointment for me as a viewer.

Sound off in the comments below and tell us if you agree with these pros and cons, or if you have some of your own.