Stephanie McMahon Opens Up About WWE ThunderDome, Virtual Fans

Last week’s Friday Night SmackDown saw the debut of WWE’s ThunderDome concept brought to life. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, Stephanie McMahon opened up about ThunderDome and the importance of hosting virtual fans.

Stephanie stressed how the WWE Universe’s experience is going to be vastly different thanks to ThunderDome. She explained how the concept has been explored to get WWE back to providing the “spectacle” its fans enjoy.

“Not only are we now going back to arena setting … but now we are going to the Amway Center, which is where we have our residency. It allows us the opportunity to have state of the art production with pyro, with drones … And we’re going to have 1,000 people. We’re going to mix the audio, so we will have audio from the fans that are virtual and also mix in some crowd audio from previous events because we want it to feel as alive as possible and really we’re just getting back to the spectacle that is WWE.”

Regarding the virtual fan experience, Stephanie McMahon shared how she believes it will help Superstars with their performance going forward.

“My hats go off to our talent and the fact that they’ve been performing without that live interaction. I mean, our fans are part of our show. They are our secret sauce. And we have really been missing them, so it’s exciting to get them back.”

She pointed to how this ThunderDome experience will provide a sense of “real time feedback” that WWE Superstars “crave” when competing in the ring. Stephanie acknowledged how the setup is a “very different way to be involved,” adding how the WWE Universe is an integral part of the show.

Last night’s SummerSlam took place last night in WWE’s ThunderDome. WWE ThunderDome is currently in residence at The Amway Center in Orlando, FL.