AEW play-by-play commentator Excalibur was a recent guest on The Sports Bubble to talk all things pro-wrestling. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On how bizarre it is to run a wrestling show without fans:
Nobody is happy about it, this is just the reality and there’s absolutely nothing to be done. It’s so much better to be wrestling in front of 50 people than no people. Before that massive taping in Georgia, we were in Jacksonville and we did it with absolutely no crowd — and it is bizarre. As an announcer I could hear my voice echoing around the building.
On who else is in the crowd besides AEW talent:
We have the wrestlers who are not wrestling on the episode sitting at ringside. AEW is owned by the Khan Family, the Khan family also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, so we are recording our shows in the Daily’s Place Amphitheater, which is adjacent to the football stadium in Jacksonville. The Jags employees, friends, and family, they fill out the rest of the crowd. There are basically 50 people that are in the audience — they’re all spaced out. The way it works is if you are coming backstage, if you are coming in contact with an employee, whether you are a wrestler, a lighting guy, a pyro guy, a rigger, or catering, or security, you get a blood test and temperature check, everyday that you’re coming into the building. If you are sitting in the crowd, they are kept apart from everybody else there in the upper bowl area. Those people do health surveys and temperature checks.
Full video below. (H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)