During the pandemic, many wrestling companies have introduced precautionary measures related to COVID, including the fact that they’ve held many tapings without fans in attendance. While some have found other ways to try and recreate the live event atmosphere—WWE’s Thunderdome is the most notable example—IMPACT has kept their format and allow the action in the ring to speak for itself.
On this week’s IMPACT Wrestling Press Pass podcast, WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard asked Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards if there were any talks of piping in crowd noise or any kind of ambient sound to improve the atmosphere. The two praised the atmosphere at IMPACT’s TV tapings at Skyway Studios in Nashville, with Sami stating that the lack of an audio soundtrack actually brought the product up and highlights how good they’ve become.
“I think it’s actually one of the things that actually helped IMPACT Wrestling in the long haul. When COVID went down you saw a lot of other companies without their ‘bells and whistles’ come down a notch, and IMPACT went up a notch,” Callihan stated, “truly showing the entire wrestling world that IMPACT Wrestling is one of the best wrestling shows on the planet.”
Edwards agreed, noting that now fans can hear everything going on in the ring.
“Right now we’re doing something different and it’s all natural. You hear everything—you hear the hits, you hear every sound in that ring. I think it’s a good change for fans to hear the actual moves that are going on in the ring,” Edwards said. “It’s something different. There’s a lot of hard-hitting going on in that ring and you can hear when it happens.”
Callihan closed the segment by offering an example of what they meant—and took another dig at Edwards as well.
“You want to hear something hard? Go to my Twitter right now @TheSamiCallihan and watch me demolish Eddie Edwards with a clothesline, it sounds like a gunshot.”
Related: WrestleZone’s IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory 2020 Preview
https://twitter.com/TheSamiCallihan/status/1318744219339673601
Check out the full Press Pass call below:
