10 Quick Fixes For WWE When Crowds Return
3. Stop, Look & Listen
Who is actually over?
It's a question fans have been forced to ask over and over again for the duration of the pandemic, and just about the only objective reason Vince McMahon probably wants audiences back. There's a real "football is nothing without the fans" vibe about the return to touring - that is, WWE has to say they want they old ways back, but record profits and ThunderDome sound-sweetening probably suggest otherwise.
WWE decides unilaterally, for now, who gets cheered and booed. Social media is a barometer, but far from the only one, as evidenced by the enormous response Edge received at WrestleMania. His character had gone on quite the strange journey between his 2020 Royal Rumble return and 'Show Of Shows' main event, but the live crowd in Florida popped as if this was his comeback all over again.
There will be similar and greater shocks as WWE returns to the road, and it behooves the company to take note of every one of these. McMahon's blown too many reset opportunities in the last few years, but this is a big one to take advantage of. Don't be the 2013 booker that resisted the Yes Movement for so long - be the 2021 billionaire that might as f*cking well try and get some noise back in his building before he shuffles off this mortal coil.