WWE created its ThunderDome setup as a way to have fans in attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic, but AEW didn’t. Instead, the rival promotion had its wrestlers at ringside before slowly bringing back fans.
AEW President Tony Khan talked about why AEW didn’t have a ThunderDome setup in an interview with upi.com.
“I didn’t want to have a video wall, and I pushed back when I got pushed to do a video wall,” Khan said. “It was a fine idea and WWE did it, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I respect it, it’s good and it’s economical, but I wanted to continue to find a way to do the shows for the fans every week. And the fans at Daily’s Place supported us. We built like a wrestling territory having a weekly audience. I’m really proud of that.”
“I thought it was one of our finest moments as a company, and I was really glad to come back and do the first big 100% totally safe wrestling show. The thing I take most pride in doing these live events is having zero transmissions. We’ve been doing shows since August with fans and have had zero transmissions.”