Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
We are certainly living in crazy times. Curfews and self quarantines seem to be the new norm as fears have risen over the pandemic called Covid-19 aka The Coronavirus. With panic over the possible spread of the virus…especially in places that house large groups of people…many events have been delayed, postponed or even cancelled. Pro wrestling has gotten hit with this pandemic as many promotions have suspended operations. The two larger groups WWE and AEW have vowed to continue through the fear…by continuing to run their shows in empty venues. As we approach Wrestlemania 36, the decsion was made to host wrestling biggest event in an empty WWE Performance center.
While all of this seems very strange to many of the newer fans and in many ways still new to older ones…it isn’t that new of a concept. The ‘Empty Arena Match’ has been a part of wrestling history for quite some time. Although not on the scale of a full show…the concept is far from new.
In 1981 in the Memphis territory, a violent and bloody feud raged between Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and Terry Funk. The feud was so wild, Funk challenged Lawler to a match in an empty Mid South Coliseum. No fans to root the King on and give him any kind of advantage. The was no winners or losers in this unique match up. Lawler stopped himself from adding punishment to Funk after Funk suffered an eye injury.
Terry Funk liked the gimmick so much, he brought it down to the Florida territory in 1982. It would be in an empty studio against a wrestler named Bruce Walkup. The twist, however, it was a match held inside of a steel cage.
The next match on the list was actually inspired by the Lawler/Funk empty arena match…although…it did not take place in an actual arena. Instead, it was a match on a deserted island. It was called a Ganryujima Island Death Match that featured New Japan stars Antonio Inoki versus Masa Saito. The match had no fans attend and only featured the wrestlers and a production crew. The match lasted over two hours. This unique event took place in 1987.
The gimmick of an empty arena match was stored in moth balls for several years and reemerged in 1996 for WCW. It was after the New World Order formed and the NWO used an empty arena to have a series of matches against enhancement talent. It was filmed in black and white (naturally) and had canned audience reactions and NWO members doing commentary.
Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation were the next company to use the empty arena concept in a feud that featured Mankind versus The Rock. The match was aired during the halftime of the Super Bowl back in 1999. It was affectionately known as ‘Halftime Heat.’
The next entries come from TNA/Impact wrestling, who by all accounts had the most empty arena matches booked than any other wrestling promotion. The first entry came in 2009 and it was a battle between Main Event Mafia stablemates Kurt Angle and Sting.
The second was a tag team match in 2010 that featured The Motor City Machine Guns against Generation Me aka The Young Bucks.
The last empty arena match took place in 2016 between Braxton Sutter and Rockstar Spud. It was an empty arena exposed turnbuckle match.
The final match on our list took place for the National Wrestling Alliance in 2018. It pitted Tim Storm against a wrestler named Jocephus with the winner earning an NWA world title match.
Some of these matches are considered classics, with others not so much. As we quickly approach Wrestlemania 36…empty arena matches are back and will become the new norm for professional wrestling at least for a little while.