Florida recently declared WWE as an essential service with the promotion airing live shows once again
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has been deemed as an essential service in the state of Florida, a recent ruling has confirmed.
WWE, and many other sports leagues, had been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Most competitions suspended until further notice and are unsure when they will be back.
Vince McMahon’s company had still been airing pre-taped shows, which included the two-day Wrestling 36 event. However, fans were not part of this as all shows were in front of empty chairs.
Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed the decision that exempted “professional sports and media production with a national audience” from a stay at home order statewide.
WWE resumed live shows from Monday and the same is expected to happen for the rest of the week with NXT next on Wednesday.
A statement released by WWE to ESPN highlighted the safety measures being taken by the brand:
“We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff.”
While this would be great news for fans as live shows have a different feeling to taped ones, this still causes more problems for the business.
What we saw during WrestleMania 36 was an example of how taped shows can work out well.
WWE had been doing a great job with the taped content as proper edits and safety measures were being taken for some of the dangerous spots.
There were also some bloopers shown where performers weren’t ‘wrestling’ when the shows were taken off air, even during taped events.
However, with this ruling and WWE coming back to live shows, the wrestlers have to be extra careful and not pick up an injury.
The US is the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic and there are thousands of cases reported every day.
Picking up a serious injury now would be really dangerous now, especially with the condition outside. However, WWE has done a great job of protecting their wrestlers from the virus too.
Not one coronavirus report has come in, but one star, has opted against performing for now.
Roman Reigns was to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. However, that match was changed at the last minute with Braun Strowman becoming the champion after defeating Goldberg.
Reigns hasn’t been seen in a wrestling ring since, and he won’t be back soon as he is more at risk than the other stars.
The Big Dog had fought off leukaemia in the past and is trying to steer clear of the virus too.
WWE starting live shows has its pros and cons. The pre-taped shows were working fine. However, WWE has to be extra careful after being deemed as an essential service.
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