WWE Hall of Famer and current RAW commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler opened up about working in front of zero fans during an interview with USA Today’s Commercial Appeal. He also broached the idea of WWE piping in crowd noise to help create some atmosphere.
Lawler admitted that performing in front of empty arenas is WWE’s biggest obstacle right now. He pointed at how fan reaction helped let Superstars know whether they are doing a good job or not.
“That’s our obstacle [now],” Lawler said. “How do you entertain when you don’t have a live audience? That’s how you judge whether you’re being entertaining or not — the crowd response. When nobody’s there, you can’t tell.”
Jerry Lawler On Crowd Noise
Regarding WWE utilizing crowd noise to create a sense of atmosphere, Jerry Lawler believes it might benefit the current television product. He reflected on a past empty arena matchup between himself and Terry Funk. He shared how they wrestled at about 1 in the afternoon and, during the middle of the match, he couldn’t help but feel stupid.
“When I go back and think about it, I do remember, right in the middle of the match, I thought, ‘This feels stupid.’ He’s throwing me into empty chairs and those sorts of things. There’s no fans screaming, no background noise at all. It just made you feel kind of dumb.”
Lawler continued, “I’ve been to [football] training camps where the players go through their practice sessions with loud music or crowd noise piped in. I don’t think it would hurt anything at all if they piped in some crowd noise behind the matches. And even explain it to the fans. It’ll make the matches more entertaining and it’ll make it easier for the performers themselves.”
WrestleMania 36 now takes place across two days on April 4 and April 5 from multiple locations. The decision was made to relocate from Raymond James Stadium due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
