WWE’s Plans For Rotating ThunderDome Audience, Expected SummerSlam Length

Fans will be a large part of the new WWE ThunderDome experience starting on Friday Night SmackDown, and Wrestling Inc reportedly has insight on how the concept will work.

According to the site, WWE plans to rotate its virtual audience, with fans being put on LED boards during the show’s matches and segments. Virtual audience members will reportedly be rotated every 15-30 minutes, with no specific viewer being included in the audience for the duration of the show. How long the audience member remains in the virtual audience will depend on their enthusiasm for the show.

WWE also reportedly plans to test their process over the next few shows to get a better grasp of fans not following the rules and whether they should be added to the ‘blocked list’ of potential audience members.

The belief is that getting through Raw on Monday would be the sign that they’ve worked through any issues that may come up, with the worst thing that could happen being losing their feed to the virtual audience and having to figure out what would be placed on the displays. There is a backup plan, though it’s not an ideal one. WWE does have standby spots for in case a viewer’s feed goes out, they leave the feed or have to be removed. There will be a moderator that interacts with the viewers, though it isn’t known if they will provide guidance regarding cheering or booing.

The company will also include a time delay between what’s going on TV and what virtual audience members will be seeing so that any issues can be fixed.

Wrestling Inc also reports that with the move to ThunderDome, Summerslam is expected to return to a three-and-a-half to four-hour format.