WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T Ponders Cinematic Matches In Case Of Another Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 spurred an abrupt change in the way professional wrestling, chief of which WWE, was presented to its audience. Among the many maligned innovations, such as the WWE ThunderDome or Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio in an "Eye for an Eye" match, there were positively received gems in the form of cinematic matches like the "Boneyard Match" between Undertaker and AJ Styles and "Firefly Funhouse Match" between Bray Wyatt and John Cena, both happening at the crowd-less WrestleMania 36.

Cinematic matches became the flavor of the pandemic era of wrestling, with AEW innovating its own "Stadium Stampede" before Sting made his return to wrestling in 2021 in a cinematic street fight, and WWE even producing a cinematic Money in the Bank match staged at WWE HQ. But there has been a steep decline in their staging as the world and wrestling opened up post-pandemic. WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently addressed whether or not he thinks they hold a place in wrestling on "The Hall of Fame" podcast.

"You know, if we have another pandemic," he laughed, "If we need to go that route, I think it will be cool. But I think the cinematic match, it has to be at a certain place for a certain time. I don't think right now, for me, I don't have the need to watch a cinematic match. Also there's not a lot of guys it would really fit. God bless Bray Wyatt, that's definitely something that was up his alley. The Undertaker, that was definitely something up his alley." Booker felt that Darby Allin, Sting's partner in the aforementioned cinematic bout, presents a viable option in AEW. He would also joke with his co-host that Allin could do a cinematic match during his upcoming Mount Everest climb. But he doesn't see it being anyone else's wheelhouse, for the time being.

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