Executing WWE television on a week to week basis is a tricky job, no matter how many people will tell you that it isn't. The amount of work and effort that goes into producing top content that can ensure the happiness of the fans is staggering, and there's not nearly enough credit given to the writers and people behind the scenes.
With that being said, in today's world of social media there isn't much that's left to the imagination - and even less so when you've got dozens of former employees on hand to spill the beans. It's because of this that we as a viewing audience have been able to uncover a multitude of secrets from taped shows, some of which you may know - and some of which you may not.
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Whatever the case may be each one is as interesting and fascinating as the last, because it gives you an idea of the lengths WWE goes to in order to ensure the best possible product for us, the WWE Universe. Well, that's how we choose to see it - others may believe that they're just thinking of themselves. But who's to say which thought process is right or wrong?
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With that in mind, let's take a look at five secrets you may not know about WWE taped shows.
#5 Noise input
This one may not come as much of a surprise to some people who enjoy reading the dirt sheets, but it's still a tad embarrassing for WWE. For taped shows, especially ones that air on tape delay, the company inserts cheers and a variety of different noises when particular superstars come out to make it seem like they're more popular than they are.
It's a little bit sad in all honesty that they feel the need to do that because they should instead just choose to steer into the skid. It happens a lot during the international shows, and they even go so far as to lower the volume of the mics near the crowd. A perfect example of this would be when Roman Reigns defeated Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 32 - because the boos inside the stadium at the time were deafening.
Speaking of the crowd.
#4 Crowd size
WWE are ingenious with their camera angles and lighting because more often than not it seems as if every single arena that they are in is completely full. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth, with a lot of Raw and SmackDown shows in the last few years suffering from poor crowd numbers for one reason or another.
At some points there are huge sections that are completely empty, meaning that the WWE has to darken the lighting around that area and ensure that they move the main section of fans onto the hard camera so that it looks fuller than it is. Again, it's worrying that they feel the need to do this, but it's a tad more understandable than the fake soundbites.
We'd love to see this next one in person.
#3 Segment redos
Boy oh boy, this was one of the biggest problems on SmackDown before the brand split. As we all know the majority of taped television shows these days are live, as WWE wants to showcase the natural reactions of the competitors and the crowd within the moment. In the past, however, there have been times when taped segments have gone so badly that they've had to re-record them completely.
Whether it was one person fluffing their lines during a promo or the ending of a match being botched unbelievably badly, fans would be confused as to why the same competitors were coming down to the ring and doing the same thing that they did earlier in the night. Hell, it was that frequent it even happened to Vince McMahon and Daniel Bryan at one point.
You can't fool the audience - most of the time.
#2 Tricking the crowd
If you've ever been around someone who has been to a professional wrestling show before, and more specifically been to a WWE event - you'll often hear them talk about the "pee break" match. It's a point in the show where fans decide to go and either get a drink, some food or just use the bathroom as what they see in the ring isn't entertaining them all too much.
Well for the likes of Raw and SmackDown, this is also true of commercial/advert breaks. At home, we're obviously all aware of when the breaks come on, but in the arena, WWE tends to have a heel, or a babyface cut a promo while in the ring - leaving the fans unaware as to whether or not what they're seeing is part of the actual show. Shrewd move, WWE.
We conclude with one of the oddest moves of them all.
#1 Face/heel dynamics
No matter what anyone may try and tell you, heels and babyfaces still exist within this big wide world of professional wrestling. Their tactics and strategies may not come across as well as they have done in the past, but there's still a distinction between the two character alignments whether you want to believe that truth or not.
This dynamic makes live shows all the more bizarre because on some occasions after shows, heels or babyfaces break character to appeal to the live crowd. Two good examples of this are when the heel Wade Barrett was endorsed by John Cena in his home nation of England, in addition to a heel Daniel Bryan addressing the post-Mania 28 Raw crowd as a babyface. Stop confusing us.
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