SUMMARY
- In the Vince McMahon Era witha production team led by Kevin Dunn, WWE started having predictable outcome.
- Production attributes were overlooked by fans despite gradual changes in arena and graphics quality.
With a new champion Cody Rhodes, WWE has ushered in a new era for the fans. The WWE Universe seems to get increasingly excited seeing the new changes Triple H brings to the table. WrestleMania XL is in the books and it was loved worldwide by the fans and audience of the WWE Universe. It proved how much WWE has changed in terms of production.
During the Vince McMahon Era, WWE used to have a constant production team led by Kevin Dunn and had predictable outcomes over the years. The arena quality, graphics quality, and other production attributes seemed to change slowly but didn’t get much attention from the fans. With Triple H taking charge of the company, he promised to give fans what they wanted.
Since the huge merger took place between WWE and UFC forming the TKO Group, things have certainly changed for the company. With added realism to the storylines and promos, WWE is mainly focusing on creating hype for their product with immense production strategies. These small additions are being loved by the fans and are adding more to the show itself.
Another huge impact WWE has made since Hunter took over is the time and amount of work divided among the superstars. Wrestlers are now more expressive and are in a free-to-work environment under Triple H which is helping to make more impactful storylines.
The ringside area looks visually more attractive than before
The ringside area during weekly shows usually displays the logo of the show with the color of the show in the background. This gave viewers a bit of a blind spot as the color grading used to be bright. In recent weeks, this has changed and there is a black background on Barricades which only focuses on the logo of the show.
Fans loved this new change and talked about the moment it dropped. “The LED barricades are easier to look at cause it’s just black with the Raw logo and the WWE logo,” said one fan about the change. “Black is easy for eyes compared to all red.” stated another fan.
While these changes are minor, they do add to the show’s overall quality and improve the viewing experience for a viewer. Triple H aims to make WWE as huge as he can and continues to prove it by giving fans the best watching experience.
Continuous shots before entrances and backstage assaults
One of the most essential parts of WWE programming is the camerawork for viewers sitting at home. Unlike traditional filming methods, Triple H has uplifted the standards with several continuous shots to add more hype. These one-shot takes are usually for an entrance or a backstage assault which is then filmed directly to the arena adding more realism.
I respect what Kevin Dunn did with production in WWE but this is a whole new level though 🔥pic.twitter.com/nEmPpgbTvn
— Wrestlelamia.com (@wrestlelamia) April 16, 2024
Fans seem to love this new style of shooting and want more of it. “Whoever is doing productions is cooking” stated a fan regarding the new style of one-shots. “The production quality on live television is easily the biggest upgrade in WWE since the TKO merger.” said another fan.
Longer shots, more distinctive and dramatic viewpoints, and a long-overdue product makeover have all been witnessed in the last few months. The greatest illustration of this shift was the shot of Sami Zayn getting ready for his wife’s arrival and then Kevin Owens traveling to his unexpected Intercontinental Championship match against Gunther. It looked like a scene from a movie.
Change in stages for SmackDown and RAW
WWE used a scaled-back production setup for Monday’s Raw after WrestleMania, the night before WrestleMania Saturday, and SmackDown last week. The corporation chose a format that would enable them to sell more tickets for the events rather than a big stage, screen, and ramp. WWE chose Lee Fitting to take over as production head after longstanding leader Kevin Dunn left.
Stage set-up for #SmackDown tonight.
📸: @NakamaNoSenshi pic.twitter.com/XwogItaAuc
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) April 12, 2024
Another huge change was seen in the graphics which helped in the transition to commercial. Superstars like Jey Uso, CM Punk, and many more had the same transition going into commercial break.
All in all, the modifications have been overwhelmingly positively accepted. The largest shift to WWE’s on-screen offering will occur in January 2025 when Raw is streamed on Netflix instead of broadcast television. The $5 billion deal will support the company’s continued leadership in live events and TV production.