In Praise of the Set Designers

Time to break the radio silence here, with a pic of the entrance stage at Saturday Night's Main Event from two weeks ago.

I don't know about other wrestling fans, but I'm a big sucker for good set design. There's just something about the lighting and the staging that can create a unique atmosphere, and I'm glad that the WWE started to recognise this after years of austerity. Just compare any major pay-per-view from the early '90s -- with no more than a lit-up WWF logo hanging over a black curtain -- with today's massive ramps and platforms and giant screens and fireworks, and you can see what a difference it makes. It's all about the attention to detail.

Even if there's nothing to appreciate about the booking or the wrestling at any given show (like SNME, which wasn't much to write home about, being mostly an advert aimed at wrestling newbies) you can be sure that the WWE's set designers will do a bang-up job, at least most of the time. As you can see from the above image, Saturday Night's Main Event was one of those times. It elevates this dirty, grimy, sleazy pseudo-sport to the level of proper showbiz, where it should be.

It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to see what they've come up with for WrestleMania tonight.