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Last night's episode of AEW Dynamite was forced to move to The Daily Palace in Florida and present their show without an audience, much like recent WWE shows. The wrestling world has also been a victim of the current COVID-19 virus but whilst all major sporting events have been canceled or postponed, wrestling has decided to continue as long as possible and give the fans the escape that they need at this current moment in time.
This was the first time that AEW had presented a show since the pandemic had caused lockdowns all over the world and it proved that there was a completely different mindset for AEW compared to WWE.
Whilst WWE has also pushed forward and continued to give the fans what they want at this present moment in time, AEW managed to do things a little differently.
#5 A rallying call
Whilst WWE has kicked off all of their shows making it clear that there is a pandemic and that they are continuing regardless, AEW decided to do things a little differently.
Instead of making it clear that this was a show, Cody Rhodes was the man in the ring when the show kicked off and whilst he made reference to the current issues outside of those four walls, he didn't actually make any kind of out of character announcement.
There was no need for any official note from AEW as Rhodes presented a rallying call to The Elite that allowed him to say everything he needed to say for the company to kick off the show. It allowed Rhodes to remain in character and the show to go on as it would have if the virus didn't spread throughout the world and cause the recent lockdowns.
#4 The lack of audience didn't make a difference
The social distancing rules and the fact that there is now a strict rule relating to mass gatherings of any kind meant that AEW were not allowed to have an audience for last night's tapings, but they didn't make this as obvious as it has been over the past week.
Instead of having no audience at all to cheer on their live matches, AEW made the interesting decision to allow some of the stars who were going to appear on the show to be in the audience and to be part of the storylines.
This meant that the outside arena wasn't completely silent whilst there were matches going on and the odd insult could then be heard being shouted over as though there was actually an audience in attendance. There were even some fantastic interactions with the audience and the wrestlers in the ring.
AEW managed to find a way to get an audience in their arena without breaking the rules and the product last night was no different than in recent weeks.
#3 The future
One thing that is for certain right now is that no one knows what the future holds, AEW made this clear throughout the show, but they didn't actually put it in words. Instead, there were promos where stars would talk about upcoming matches and there would be no date mentioned of when they would happen.
The term "next week" wasn't used at all since AEW doesn't know if they will have enough stars to put on a show in the coming weeks or if there will be a forced lockdown. Blood and Guts is obviously up in the air so AEW made it clear that it would be presented whenever AEW is next able to stream a show so that fans knew the urgency of the situation.
Tony Khan has put the choice in his wrestler's hands which means that there may not be an AEW next week, so they won't have to change any plans or graphics if they are not able to go ahead with the show, which is an interesting route to take.
#2 No mention of Coronavirus
Whilst WWE made an announcement at the beginning of their show and made it clear why they had been forced back into the Performance Center, AEW didn't need to. There were a number of references to social distancing and lockdowns throughout the night but the word wasn't mentioned once.
AEW made it appear as though the virus was there in kayfabe and it was a reason for The Elite to band together and fight. Chris Jericho even went on to ban fans from arenas even when the virus has passed, which was another impressive way of trying to make it seem as though it was all part of the story.
There was no need for any out of character antics because the wrestlers in AEW had the depth in their characters to be able to use it to their advantage. It's unknown as to whether or not Blood and Guts will take place next Wednesday night, but hopefully, it does so that AEW can once again put on a wrestling masterclass.
#1 The show went ahead like a live show
AEW was able to put on a fantastic show with the shocks and surprises that were expected, Luke Harper who's now known as Brodie Lee was unveiled as the Exalted One, whilst Matt Hardy went on to make his AEW debut last night as well.
The Elite seemingly proved that they have each other's back when it comes to Blood and Guts, whilst the women's division continued to heat up with a fantastic four-way.
There were no re-runs of recent shows and it was hard to tell that there was any kind of difference between this show and the ones that have been taking place over the past five months.
This was exactly what the wrestling world needed and AEW were able to put on one hell of a show despite the lack of roster. They were also able to bring in some of their biggest stars and provide the shocks and surprises that the fans have come to expect from Dynamite on a regular basis.
