With Hulk Hogan in the house, WWE held only WrestleMania this past April 10th and 11th at Raymond James Stadium with fans. WWE last ran a weeknight televised event with a paid crowd on March 9, 2020, in Washington. WWE then moved to its in-house performance center in Florida on March 13, before setting up what it dubbed The ThunderDome — where fans registered for spots on LED digital videoboards — for stretches in Florida at the Amway Center, Tropicana Field and the Yuengling Center.
WWE tinkered with its formula during the pandemic and taped cinematic matches, used more augmented reality and dabbled with an “underground” concept that never reached its potential. With WWE pushing the reaction buttons, it guaranteed fans wouldn’t veer from the hopeful creative direction and boo fan-favorites for sport like they have in the past with Reigns and current Hollywood heavyweight John Cena.
“People like Roman have been able to emotionally bring a performance that, maybe with people cheering over him, or booing over him or going into different directions over him,” have benefited, Levesque said. “But that’s the beauty of what we do, to go be entertained, however you want to be entertained. As a performer, sometimes that’s difficult. But if you’re not entertaining, sometimes they’ll entertain themselves.”
WWE’s fan shutout didn’t completely lay the smack down on the bottom line, with the company reporting $974.2 million in revenue in 2020.
