As you all know, I love the production values in WWE. I work in theatrical production and really enjoy everything that WWE does with their stage setups and atmosphere in arenas. It is actually one of my biggest reasons for going to pay per views and other live shows.
These production values are undoubtedly amazing. The only problem with these production values are that they are unchanging. WWE in the last few years has let their state of the art production values lag a little bit. Innovation is not the name of the game here, the status quo is.
Think about a weekly version of WWE Raw. Is there anything aesthetically different that makes that show stand out? The stage is always the same. The ring always looks the same. There are the same videos and the same talent. Thinking about the last three weeks of Raw, I cannot think of anything that changed from one arena to another.
Now think back to last fall’s WWE Raw live from Madison Square Garden. The large entryway was taken down, for just one week. The crowd was sitting all around the arena, with just small screens set up on the doors of the MSG entrance. This created a really fun atmosphere for the show to exist in. The main thing that I loved about it was that it was different. I turned on my TV and did not see the usual entrance that meant the usual two hours of Monday Night Raw.
Especially since WWE moved to one unified set for all of their shows, the entrance stage looks stale and unexciting. Would it look this stale if we didn’t see it two (or three if anyone still watches NXT) times a week? If the stage is not going to change based on the show it is on, why not take down the stage on the occasional week? Why not go to a major, first run arena like MSG and use it as an opportunity to take the stage down, pack the place full of people and give the show a slightly old school feel?
The predictable atmosphere eventually leads to a predicable show, at least in the minds of viewers. If WWE were to change things up with an outdoor show, a show with no entrance or any other aesthetic change fans would respond. WWE has amazing production values, but it would be great to see them more creatively used.
What do you think? Do you enjoy the big stage setup of WWE? Should there be a change to how to show is produced on occasion?
