8 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Hall Of Fame 2020 & 2021

1. This Specific Format

Jerry Lawler
WWE.com

Ultimately, WWE should have held off on the Hall of Fame ceremony for another year. Rather than inducting three classes in 2022, they should have saved the 2020 group until then, held onto the other names for future shows, and scrubbed this inessential event from WrestleMania week, as the ThunderDome format rendered it a flaccid, lifeless affair.

The ThunderDome was too sterile for the Hall of Fame. The equivalent of a standup comic trying to work a routine on a Zoom call, it was dead. Performers weren't granted the big night in front of a crowd that each of them deserved. On top of this, these were comfortably the most artificial shows WWE has produced since the pandemic began, with the piped-in chants, cheers, and call-and-response moments never sounding so fake.

Even a standard Network-style documentary without any kind of crowd would have come off better than this.

An objective success in terms of helping turn sliding pandemic era viewership around, and a subjective one for looking and sounding much better than the old Performance Center shows, the ThunderDome changed WWE programming for the better in 2020. Unfortunately, it was a terrible fit for a show dependent on ripples of applause.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.