Report: WWE Returning To Live Shows From August 21

Throughout much of the COVID-19 era of professional wrestling, episodes of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown have been taped at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, while pay-per-views have largely been live with the exception of a few matches. 

This will be changing from SummerSlam 2020 weekend as WrestleVotes reported yesterday that WWE will be resuming live shows from the August 21 episode of SmackDown. The go-home edition of SmackDown and NXT TakeOver: XXX will reportedly still take place at the Performance Center and Full Sail University, but main roster shows including SummerSlam will air from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. 

WrestleVotes tweeted: "Strong sense of enthusiasm at the Performance Center today... All TVs after this coming Monday’s RAW will indeed be live and from the Amway Center in Orlando. Some normalcy on the horizon."

WWE's new home could also be filled to capacity as Mike Johnson at PWInsider noted the company is considering using virtual fans in future broadcasts, including The Biggest Party Of The Summer. FOX has been using virtual fans during MLB games throughout the 2020 season.