WWE Royal Rumble 2021: 10 Nightmares That Could Happen

6. The Lack Of Atmosphere Kills WWE's Buzz

WWE Royal Rumble 2021
WWE

The anxiety pre-Sunday is real.

One year ago, fans in Houston's Minute Maid Park roared themselves hoarse through one of the best supercards of the modern era. Edge's return, McIntyre's win and a generally excellent night of action vindicated their volume. WWE are gonna' find it hard to replicate that in 2021.

This will be the first Royal Rumble ever to take place without a live audience at ringside. That means there's no precedent set for how one of these bouts works in front of the ThunderDome LED screens, and that's rather disconcerting going in. Could the once-mighty Rumble be something of a crowd-less popcorn fart in execution here?

Hopefully not, but maybe. There isn't going to be any natural atmosphere in Tropicana Field at all this weekend, and that doesn't exactly sound promising for such a beloved match type like the Rumble. Fingers crossed that WWE can create some of their own buzz and mask the void.

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.