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Eric Bischoff On Why He’s Impressed With WWE ThunderDome, Kevin Dunn’s Involvement, Whether WWE Should Consider Outdoor Venue

September 30, 2020 | Posted by Blake Lovell
WWE ThunderDome, ECW Press ThunderDome

In a recent edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff discussed why he’s impressed with WWE ThunderDome, Kevin Dunn’s involvement, whether WWE should consider an outdoor venue, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Eric Bischoff on why he’s impressed with WWE ThunderDome: “I think it’s amazing what WWE has achieved. What WWE has been able to accomplish from a production point of view is nothing short of amazing in my opinion. In a way, I’m not surprised. Kevin Dunn – again, there’s a lot of narrative out there about Kevin and people have their opinions about him. I think Kevin is – I don’t like to throw the word genius out there – but I don’t know anybody more talented when it comes to live production than Kevin Dunn and his team……he is the guy, but I think what I respect so much about Kevin is not just his specific talent in regard to what we see on television but his ability to build an amazing team. Kevin Dunn has one of the most impressive teams of people working in post-production and in live production. I just can’t think of anybody that’s as good as WWE when it comes to live production. They’re on the cutting edge of the cutting edge. I could not be more impressed with what WWE has done with ThunderDome.”

On whether WWE should pursue an outdoor venue with fans or continue with ThunderDome: “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and make a prediction. Two things before I do. This time of year in Florida is a great time of year to do things outdoors. When COVID first hit in the middle of the summer, man, that’s a tough time of year to try to do anything outdoors in Florida because of the weather patterns and summer. You’re going to get heavy storms on a regular basis pretty much every night during the summertime. That makes live production very challenging in the summer….so I don’t think they could have tried to find a suitable outdoor arena that would’ve allowed them to stay on any kind of schedule to produce their shows. My other prediction is and I hope I’m wrong, this is just my gut…..if WWE is producing outdoors and is able to put fans into whatever venue they’re looking at, so you feel that energy that then it’s a good alternative, a reasonable alternative to what we were doing pre-COVID.

“My fear is that if for whatever reason they have to social distance and keep everybody spread apart and have everybody wearing masks and all the other things that could likely happen, I think the outdoor venue may provide less energy than the ThunderDome. When I see action in the ThunderDome – and I don’t sit and watch a full show, full disclosure here – but when I’ve dropped in and I have more out of curiosity than anything else……I almost forgot that this is an accommodation and that this is a solution to a problem. In other words, the energy is almost there enough for me to forget why I’m looking at what I’m looking at, which is a good thing. When I’m watching SmackDown, I can forget for just a moment because the energy is just that good. Unless they change the way they shoot the action, my fear is it’s gonna feel less than what we see in ThunderDome.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit 83 Weeks with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.