WWE producer TJ Wilson, also known as Tyson Kidd, recently appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. He revealed that he was the one who suggested that WWE should routinely pipe crowd noise into the ThunderDome because the wrestlers told him they struggled in the empty arena shows.
“I just said in the [production] meeting, ‘Is there any way, or does it mess up the production, to pipe the [crowd] noise into the arena?'” said Wilson. “‘Because I think it will help the talent.’ I said I spoke with a lot of talent from the week before, and they said that that was kind of what was missing. And then Kevin [Dunne] was like, ‘Yeah, it’s no problem. ‘ So they pump it in, and I think it helps a lot.”
Kidd also explained why an in-ring return would be challenging, as he can’t take any bumps in the ring. He described how the Royal Rumble Match would hide this obstacle, but most of the things one could do in a ring would hurt his neck.
“I always had it in my head to at least approach it and just see, take it day by day and see how I felt with my neck and stuff ,” said Wilson. “And I knew, the secret with the Royal Rumble is that I could do it and not have to take any bumps. That’s the big thing. Yeah, I can hit the ropes, I can springboard, that’s okay, probably landing on the springboard, even springboarding and landing on my feet’s probably not great for my neck. But bumping is the thing that stops me.
“Like I train these guys, and it’s so fun to be in the ring. It’s literally like lit such a fire, that and I don’t know, it’s so crazy. This pandemic caused some of my best work as a producer for some reason, I don’t know why…. But it’s all just lit this fire in me, so I can kind of like chain-wrestle a little bit with these guys and show them, demo a couple things. But now I know, minus the money, I know how these super actors feel. Because I can do the scene, and then when it comes to the bump, it’s like, ‘Stuntman, I need you in here.’ I need a stuntman now.”
Wilson is thriving in his role backstage, and he still has a meaningful presence in the company, even though he was forced into an early retirement.
The full episode is available here:
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