Bryan Danielson was a fan of wrestling in the ThunderDome era without fans in the arena, and he recently explained why. Danielson worked in WWE during the pandemic lockdown era, and he spoke about why he enjoyed that period of wrestling in an interview with Gorilla Position. You can see some highlights below:
On enjoying wrestling during the ThunderDome era: “Oh, I loved it. I loved it. Because it was different, right? It’s so different. And it wasn’t the idea that I’m doing it in front of no one. It’s the idea that the medium has changed, right? So for example, you guys are doing a podcast. The medium changes a little bit once you incorporate video, right? So if people are only exclusively listening to this, that’s a different animal than if they’re just watching it and watching us talk. Likewise, I liken it to the difference between theater and cinema, right? What we traditionally do in pro wrestling is more like theater. But what we had to do during the pandemic is cinema.
“And my realization was that not many people are changing — not many people are realizing that there needs to be this change here, this change in adaptation. And I really thought — I was very proud, and I thought that I was one of the best people at adapting to that. You have to keep in mind, Roman Reigns was out during that time. When Roman came back, I was like, ‘He got it!’ He understood the benefits. Because there are, it’s a trade-off. You lose some things, but you gain some things. He understood the trade-off, and the direction he went was genius.”
On being able to tap into other aspects of his skillset with the era: “I actually focused on — I actually leaned into some of the old British wrestling. Because one of the things that they don’t get a lot of credit for; a lot of people realize that old British wrestling is very technical and that sort of thing. But the sound and the physicality of it, because the crowds weren’t going necessarily wild, and the announcer was very subdued. But you’d hear, like you would actually physically hear when they grab and like all that kind of stuff. And I thought like, ‘Oh, there’s a real opportunity to do that.'”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Gorilla Position with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
