Aaron Rift’s thoughts on attending first WWE event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
Last night, I attended my first WWE event since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, MI. I bought a last-minute ticket and sat in one of the empty upper deck sections. Here were a few of my observations…
It was a fun yet standard live event. I was a bit disappointed that there was no Roman Reigns since I wanted to experience his live entrance. As it tends to be with WWE house shows, the audience largely comprised of families.
Bianca Belair, Drew McIntyre, and Sasha Banks seemed to have gotten the best reactions. The crowd reacted the way they were supposed to except for one match – AJ Styles vs. Angelo Dawkins. Styles did receive some boos but he was largely cheered and the crowd was more behind him than they were for Dawkins.
There was a lot of playing to the crowd throughout the show. The kids love the distractions as they were yelling “turn around Drew” when Madcap Moss tried to sneak up from behind. I still haven’t been to an AEW event so I haven’t yet been able to gauge what the live experience is like. From what people have told me and what I notice on television, it appears to be mostly adult men that AEW caters to. It’s still clear to me that WWE caters to a young audience with simple and straight-forward storylines while AEW tends to have more sophisticated storylines that require the audience to be paying more attention to subtle details. There is nothing wrong with either, it depends on your own personal taste.
Overall, the show was right around three hours and flew by quickly. It wasn’t a sellout but almost every section had at least some people in it. @WrestleTix estimated the attendance at 4,241 which sounds accurate. WCW used to run televised shows at the Dow Event Center and I think it would be a great venue for AEW. Let’s get AEW to Michigan already, Tony Khan!