WWE announces virtual interactive fan experience; details on how to book virtual seats for WWE ThunderDome
WWE has made a massive announcement to introduce a new "new state-of-the-start viewing experience" for fans, WWE ThunderDome. The new set will consist of video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, drone cameras, and cutting-edge graphics. The unique virtual fan experience will be starting from this week's Friday Night SmackDown on FOX.
WWE Executive Vice President, Television Production, Kevin Dunn had the following to say about WWE ThunderDome -
"WWE has a long history of producing the greatest live spectacles in sports and entertainment, yet nothing compares to what we are creating with WWE ThunderDome. This structure will enable us to deliver an immersive atmosphere and generate more excitement amongst the millions of fans watching our programming around the world.”
WWE shows will be taking place at Amway Center in Orlando
Starting this Friday on SmackDown, all WWE shows will be taking place at the Amway Center in Orlando, a place which was rumored to host SummerSlam for the last few days. The plan is to have fans virtually attend the shows through live videos on massive LED boards.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced WWE to move all their shows to their Performance Center in Orlando. Vince McMahon initially started with empty arena shows, and later used NXT talents as makeshift fans behind plexiglasses. The introduction of WWE ThunderDome will be something completely unique.
Kevin Dunn gave the following details of the setup we can expect to see this Friday on SmackDown.
“Like the NBA, we’re doing virtual fans, but we’re also creating an arena-type atmosphere. We won’t have a flat board, we’ll have rows and rows and rows of fans. We’ll have almost 1,000 LED boards, and it will recreate the arena experience you’re used to seeing with WWE. The atmosphere will be night and day from the Performance Center. This is going to let us have a WrestleMania-level production value, and that’s what our audience expects from us. We are also going to put arena audio into the broadcast, similar to baseball, but our audio will be mixed with the virtual fans. So when fans start chants, we’ll hear them."
Fans can register their virtual seat for WWE shows on WWE’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages or at www.WWEThunderDome.com, starting tonight. There are a lot of questions as to how it might turn out and with WWE also trying it for the first time, everyone is excited to see how it goes down!
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for further news and updates on the situation!