10 Lessons WWE Can Learn From Its Audience-Free Shows

There are advantages and disadvantages to WWE taping shows in advance, but did anyone really complain every Wednesday night while watching non-live episodes of NXT (which had often been shot weeks earlier?). Yes, some fans will seek out spoilers, and the element of surprise with big returns and title changes may be negatively impacted to some extent.

On the other hand, knowing what's coming will entice a lot of fans to tune in, and WWE having some shows in the bag means they're prepared for potential disruptions and can clean them up to reduce filler, and potentially even scrap matches and segments which bombed in front of a live crowd.

Most importantly, getting a few episodes of RAW or SmackDown done in advance means that wrestlers potentially spend less time on the road, and having only key episodes and PPVs be legitimately live would give them a much bigger feel. Right now, WWE is able to learn how best to produce these as they go (without a crowd watching), so they would be silly not to take advantage of that in future.