5 Ways WWE's Actually Better Without A Crowd

5. Production's Better Centered On The Work

I'm thankful to Edge (and not for the last time in this article) for providing me with a timely and perfect example of what I'm talking about here. His return at the Royal Rumble, where the music hit and the smoke bellowed and, for a split second you could barely believe what was happening; this should have been one of the iconic moments in pro-wrestling.

Instead, the live broadcast immediately cut to sections of the crowd losing their minds. Of the 15 seconds that proceeded his music hitting, production elected to show Edge for a little over one of those and spent the other 14 giving us fans loosely mouthing "holy s**t". Nobody watching at home needed to see that, because we were all living it.

Such was the criticism of these scant few seconds, WWE even released an "unseen footage" version of the entrance. Not a striking behind-the-scenes expose, but simply an uncut reel from the camera that was pointed down the aisle, free of needless reaction shots.

Without its Universe™ WWE is nothing, but its absence is also going to at least force the boys in production to learn how to better keep the focus on the actual performers we all tune in to see. You don't go to the Grand Canyon and wish there was a mirror in front of it to show you your own open mouth.