WWE To Unveil “Capitol Wrestling Center” Tonight For NXT TakeOver

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated is reporting that tonight’s NXT TakeOver 31 show will see WWE unveil the “Capital Wrestling Center”, which will basically be NXT’s version of the ThunderDome at the Performance Center.

Barrasso notes that the current plan is for the new venue to be used for all episodes of NXT moving forward, beginning tonight with TakeOver 31. This explains why NXT TV has moved out of Full Sail:

Beginning this Sunday at TakeOver 31, NXT returns to the Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., for its weekly shows, and there will an entirely different look to the venue. The newly remodeled television set inside the Performance Center is now known as the Capitol Wrestling Center, and it will be unveiled at TakeOver.

The Capitol Wrestling Center name is a tribute to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation that was founded by Jess McMahon in 1953 and run by Vincent J. McMahon, serving as the precursor to WWE. Paul “Triple H” Levesque oversees the NXT brand, and he was adamant that the new set pay respect to the history of WWE.

Triple H told Justin Barrasso that the “Capitol Wrestling Center” will have virtual fans like the ThunderDome, but will also feature live fans in attendance, something that Fightful reported a few days ago:

In addition to video walls surrounding the ring with virtual fans, similar to the ThunderDome, the venue also will welcome back live fans in a limitedcapacity. Levesque said the crowd is likely to be around 100 people at Sunday’s TakeOver.

“There will be a contingent of fans in attendance, some of which will be talent, others will be friends and family and some will be fans,” said Levesque. “We will take every safety precaution that there is. All of this was signed off by our medical staff. Everybody that walks in the building will be PCR tested, take a questionnaire and be medically screened. There will be plexiglass pods with fans that are in groups, and the groups will vary in size. Everyone will wear masks, and each group will never be near anyone else.”

Levesque said there were many steps taken to ensure people enter and exit the building safely, as well as safety procedures to follow once inside, but he is eager to inject the product with the irreplaceable passion of a crowd.

“We’re taking every single precaution we can, which needs to be done safely, and it’s important to us because fans are the lifeblood of what we do,” said Levesque. “The real core of this is the fans in those seats reacting to what we do. That gives us our energy and our drive. They dictate the story, and having them there makes all the difference in the world.”

This is certainly a very exciting move for WWE, and will give NXT the edge that they’ve been missing since the beginning of the pandemic.

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