During Tuesday’s episode of Busted Open Radio, Dave LaGreca explained what it’s like to be part of the WWE ThunderDome shows.
WWE has taken steps to make it harder for fans to display inappropriate images during their broadcasts and there have been reports stating that fans have been told when to boo and cheer. LaGreca is disputing some of what has been reported.
Here is what LaGreca said about his experience: “About 5 minutes before 205 Live starts, they kind of give you the low down. They say try not to use any signs unless it’s show related. We don’t want any vulgar obscene gestures or anything like that. Let’s keep it clean and be animated. You never know when we are going to go to you so be as animated and as loud as possible. There was nothing I thought was anything objectionable at all. Then the show starts. What they say is hey, WWE universe, we have about 30 seconds, let’s start getting loud. We are going to be on TV. Let’s get animated. They will even say there are a lot of you in a dark room. Let’s try to get some overhead lighting so we can see your faces. The reason why I wanted to experience it is that a lot of people said there are people coaching you on what to do and what to say and who to cheer for. Then you get into the show. You will hear them say let us hear what you feel about Roman Reigns or Paul Heyman. Or, here comes Sasha Banks and Bayley, tell us what you think. Not once during that whole experience, and I was a part of it for 2 hours because it was an hour of 205 Live and an hour of SmackDown is what I did. Not once during that whole time did they say, alright, here comes Big E, let’s have everybody cheer. Or here comes your Universal Champion, Roman Reigns and he is a heel so let’s boo. That never happened during the experience. If you’re seeing on social media they are coaching you on how to feel, that did not happen. Did they coach you to be excited and say you are going to be on TV so be animated, yes.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Busted Open Radio can be heard on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation (Channel 156), Monday through Saturday from 9 am to Noon eastern.