AEW commentator Jim Ross recently appeared on Wrestling Observer radio to discuss the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has rocked the pro-wrestling industry. During the interview Ross was asked about WWE still moving forward with WrestleMania 36, a decision he would have postponed. He does state he understands the move from a budget perspective.
I would’ve waited until I could’ve got it to an arena, or a stadium, and I would’ve made a big celebration out of it that we’re back, America’s back, the virus is gone, celebratory WrestleMania probably,” Ross said. “But here’s the problem with that, that’s already been, I’m sure, budgeted in for a certain amount of money, and because of the uncertainty of the virus we don’t know when that date would be to run the stadium show as the make good, the celebratory WrestleMania as I call it, and so I can understand it budgetarily, they’re a publicly traded company, they have to make money for their stockholders, their stock needs to rebound, blah blah blah.
Later Ross adds that the “empty arena” aspect has worked as well as it could have, but nothing compares to the addition of fans.
So I don’t know if my suggestion is a great one whatsoever, but I can tell you it would be so easy to replicate amazing enthusiasm, anticipation and excitement in a make good, celebratory WrestleMania, vis-a-vis it’s a television vehicle like we’ve done on AEW the last few weeks, like WWE has done, in a closed set. The empty arena thing. The empty arena thing is okay to keep programming on, but it’s not much fun to work at because you get used to that adrenaline that the fans provide. There’s nothing like that.
If you have a WOR subscription, you can listen to the interview here. (H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)
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