Week in Wrestling - Tuesday March 17, 2020
COVID-19 Changes the World,
but we still have Wrestling!
WWE NEWS
COVID-19 Changes Everything
Let's face it, the reality is COVID-19 has impacted everything about our lives over the past two weeks. This is far bigger than anything in sports and entertainment, but for the sake of this update, we will be concentrating on its impact on pro wrestling. I pray that everyone who is reading is in good health and their families are doing well.
WrestleMania 36 Moved from Tampa
WWE issued a statement on Monday announcing that WrestleMania 36 and its related events for that week will no longer take place in Tampa, Florida. WrestleMania will instead air live from the Performance Center on its originally scheduled date of Sunday, April 5. Only essential personnel will be in attendance on the closed set. WrestleMania 36 was supposed to be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, but with all the gathering restrictions being implemented, as well as the travel restrictions, there was no way the event could proceed as planned in Tampa.
There had been rumors that Wrestlemania could possibly be moved to June of this year in Tampa, in hopes that the current circumstances would be different by then. So Monday's announcement came as a shock, and really stunned many who thought that there was no way Vince McMahon would pass up on a chance to capture a huge gate, and present his annual mega event before a large crowd. But I think the problem was not being able to know when the landscape in our country would be better so that we could return to normal life. In reality, nobody knows when things will be back to normal. Nobody knows how long this virus will continue to spread. So postponing Mania until June, when its possible the restrictions will still be in place, and then having to reschedule again, would just be an even bigger mess for those attempting to attend. So in that case, i understand why the call was made to just run the show and lets move on.
I guess the detail many including myself are struggling to accept, is that Wrestlemania, the showcase of the immortals, will be live before a capacity crowd of zero, from the Performance Center?.......... Ok. Here is the card.
There had been rumors that Wrestlemania could possibly be moved to June of this year in Tampa, in hopes that the current circumstances would be different by then. So Monday's announcement came as a shock, and really stunned many who thought that there was no way Vince McMahon would pass up on a chance to capture a huge gate, and present his annual mega event before a large crowd. But I think the problem was not being able to know when the landscape in our country would be better so that we could return to normal life. In reality, nobody knows when things will be back to normal. Nobody knows how long this virus will continue to spread. So postponing Mania until June, when its possible the restrictions will still be in place, and then having to reschedule again, would just be an even bigger mess for those attempting to attend. So in that case, i understand why the call was made to just run the show and lets move on.
I guess the detail many including myself are struggling to accept, is that Wrestlemania, the showcase of the immortals, will be live before a capacity crowd of zero, from the Performance Center?.......... Ok. Here is the card.
WWE Championship -- Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
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Universal Championship -- Goldberg (c) vs. Roman Reigns
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John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
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Edge vs. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing)
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Raw Women's Title -- Becky Lynch (c) vs. Shayna Baszler
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NXT Women's Title -- Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
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The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
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Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
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WWE Moves All shows to Performance Center
Across the country, travel and gathering restrictions are being implemented by State and local leaders. Schools are being closed, companies are having people work from home and government officials in different states are shutting down large gatherings of people in one place, which greatly affects every entertainment event. So for the foreseeable future, all WWE shows, including RAW, NXT, Smackdown, and most notably, Wrestlemania, will take place at the Performance Center. This whole situation was unthinkable two weeks ago, but this is our new normal. Fans will not be allowed at these shows, with the only people there being the talent and people essential to the broadcast of the show.
Gronk to WWE
Rob Gronkowski is joining the WWE as a full time wrestler. Many of us suspected this was a possibility, but its still wild when you think about it. Gronk is 6-foot-6, 270 pounds, and only 30 years old, but has had some injuries during his football career that may hinder his longevity, despite being younger than many on the WWE roster. Gronk is advertised for this Friday Night's Smackdown at the Performance Center.
Word is that Gronk would do SummerSlam this year in Boston, given he played his entire career with the Patriots and is among the most popular athletes in the city. He currently works for FOX as a football analyst with FOX, and joining WWE will give them a tremendous amount of media attention.
Word is that Gronk would do SummerSlam this year in Boston, given he played his entire career with the Patriots and is among the most popular athletes in the city. He currently works for FOX as a football analyst with FOX, and joining WWE will give them a tremendous amount of media attention.
New Hall of Fame Inductees
WWE officially announced Davey Boy Smith and Jushin Thunder Liger for the 2020 Hall of Fame. This has been known for some time within the company. It looks like the Hall of Fame induction ceremony could be pushed back to August. The daughter of Davey Boy Smith, Georgia Smith, took to Twitter and told fans she spoke with WWE, and that the company is delaying the ceremony until a later date this year. She added that WWE is hoping to do the induction ceremony during SummerSlam Weekend.
HHH Demoted
According to Dave Meltzer, a recent SEC filing revealed that Paul Levesque, HHH, has a new job title. Levesque was the head of talent relations, his main job, but also oversaw many other departments in his role as EVP of Talent, Live Events and Creative. So he was moved away from being in charge of talent and his main duties are now NXT, selling NXT TV rights overseas and expanding NXT globally. Brad Blum, Vince McMahon’s Chief of Staff, took over Levesque’s other duties as Executive Vice President of Operations, overseeing the divisions Levesque was formerly overseeing.
Meltzer wrote in the Observer that there are those internally in the company and externally who have called it a quiet demotion. The labeling of his new title gives the impression that he’s the guy negotiating with talent, but that is one of the things he was removed from doing. Mark Carrano no longer reports to Levesque and now reports to Blum. Either way, it is curious that this was kept quiet for nearly four months.
Meltzer wrote in the Observer that there are those internally in the company and externally who have called it a quiet demotion. The labeling of his new title gives the impression that he’s the guy negotiating with talent, but that is one of the things he was removed from doing. Mark Carrano no longer reports to Levesque and now reports to Blum. Either way, it is curious that this was kept quiet for nearly four months.
The Revival are Gone
It’s expected The Revival is done and will be on ice until the are set to leave at the end of their contracts. With the injuries each had, the belief was that their deals would be up in early April, but right now WWE is claiming that Wilder’s deal wouldn’t be up until around mid-June. At one point they were part of a multi-team Smackdown tag team title match at WrestleMania, but so much has changed on the Smackdown side.
NXT NEWS
TakeOver Cancelled
After WWE moved WrestleMania from Tampa, word went around that at this time there is no plan to proceed with NXT TakeOver and the Hall of Fame Ceremony as previously scheduled. Many believe that TakeOver will air from the Performance Center, likely the Wednesday before WrestleMania, on USA. We'll find out soon enough.
AEW News
Dynamite Cancellations
AEW Dynamite's Rochester, NY show has been rescheduled for July 8th instead. Weekly episodes of Dynamite's for the foreseeable future will take place from the Daily's Place amphitheater in Jacksonville, Florida. The shows will be produced at closed set locations with essential personnel only. No fans. Fans who have bought tickets for these shows will be offered a refund at the point of purchase, or can have their current ticket honored at the rescheduled dates. Additional details will be released in the future.
INDEPENDENT NEWS
Wrestlemania Weekend Cancellations
In the wake of WWE's announcement that this year's WrestleMania will move to Orlando, FL, in front of no fans due to the coronavirus outbreak, postponements and cancellations began to pour in from various indie promoters who were planning on taking advantage of tens of thousands of wrestling fans in town for a variety of annual shows and signings. Here's the current list as of this writing:
WWN's WRESTLExpo
EVOLVE's Gabe Sapolsky made the announcement Monday that their various events have been postponed indefinitely. They will begin to reach out to ticket holders over the next few weeks on refunds and other options as they attempt to collect thousands in deposits and other expenses to help cover it. The Expo included shows like the WWN SuperShow, PROGRESS, wXw, EVOLVE 150, and others.
WrestleCon
They also announced their cancellation Monday, comprised of the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, World Wide, Joey Ryan's Penis Party 2, and Ethan Page's Body Guy Extravaganza among others. (An issue with the host venue made its way around wrestling Twitter Monday night as WWE canceling before the city and county did apparently caused a contractual issue with getting their money back.)
The cancellations also include the New Japan Lion's Break Project 3 show in addition to the Impact Wrestling One Night Only throwback show. Impact hasn't announced the news yet, but earlier Monday when canceling two March events, they said they would review "the recommendations from the appropriate government agencies and local communities" with regard to their two April events.
GCW Collective
GCW made the call to postpone Monday night, saying events like Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, Joey Janela's Spring Break 4, Effy's Big Gay Brunch, Warhausen's WrestleVania, and others will be packaged together on a future date. They are offering refunds, but also are hoping many keep their tickets for the rescheduled dates.
EVOLVE's Gabe Sapolsky made the announcement Monday that their various events have been postponed indefinitely. They will begin to reach out to ticket holders over the next few weeks on refunds and other options as they attempt to collect thousands in deposits and other expenses to help cover it. The Expo included shows like the WWN SuperShow, PROGRESS, wXw, EVOLVE 150, and others.
WrestleCon
They also announced their cancellation Monday, comprised of the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, World Wide, Joey Ryan's Penis Party 2, and Ethan Page's Body Guy Extravaganza among others. (An issue with the host venue made its way around wrestling Twitter Monday night as WWE canceling before the city and county did apparently caused a contractual issue with getting their money back.)
The cancellations also include the New Japan Lion's Break Project 3 show in addition to the Impact Wrestling One Night Only throwback show. Impact hasn't announced the news yet, but earlier Monday when canceling two March events, they said they would review "the recommendations from the appropriate government agencies and local communities" with regard to their two April events.
GCW Collective
GCW made the call to postpone Monday night, saying events like Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, Joey Janela's Spring Break 4, Effy's Big Gay Brunch, Warhausen's WrestleVania, and others will be packaged together on a future date. They are offering refunds, but also are hoping many keep their tickets for the rescheduled dates.
Impact Wrestling Postponements
Following the lead of most in their industry, Impact Wrestling announced Monday that two upcoming March events have been postponed. Lockdown, an Impact Plus event scheduled for March 28th in Windsor, Ontario, and March Breakdown, a Twitch show scheduled for March 29th in Belleville, MI, were both postponed with no rescheduled dates. Additionally, they said they are monitoring the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, "reviewing the recommendations from the appropriate government agencies and local communities" with relation to their two April shows: their throwback show schedule for April 3rd of WrestleMania week in Tampa, FL, and Rebellion, set for April 19th in New York City.
It's expected that when/if WrestleMania is postponed by WWE or Florida's Hillsborough County, the April 3rd event will be postponed as well. Roster member Ethan Page tweeted that despite the cancellations, the company is paying their talent their rates for each cancelled show.
It's expected that when/if WrestleMania is postponed by WWE or Florida's Hillsborough County, the April 3rd event will be postponed as well. Roster member Ethan Page tweeted that despite the cancellations, the company is paying their talent their rates for each cancelled show.
MLW Cancellations
Two days after running a TV taping in Tijuana, Mexico, Major League Wrestling announced they have rescheduled their April Intimidation Games event to June instead due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Chicago, IL, TV taping at Cicero Stadium was moved from Saturday, April 18th to Friday, June 12th, with all purchased tickets honored.
MLW's next event is a TV taping at Dallas, Texas' NYTEX Sports Center on Saturday, May 2nd. That is just outside a 45-day window the promotion said they will not run live events in at which time they will reassess their upcoming schedule which calls for one event per month.
MLW's next event is a TV taping at Dallas, Texas' NYTEX Sports Center on Saturday, May 2nd. That is just outside a 45-day window the promotion said they will not run live events in at which time they will reassess their upcoming schedule which calls for one event per month.
NWA Crockett Cup Cancelled
Next month's NWA Crockett Cup event won't be taking place as scheduled. The NWA issued a statement today announcing that -- due to the coronavirus pandemic -- they're "suspending normal operations until June as far as any live performances." That includes the Crockett Cup pay-per-view and the two days of post-PPV television tapings that were scheduled. The Crockett Cup was set to take place at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia on Sunday, April 19, with the tapings scheduled for GPB Studios in Atlanta on Monday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 21.
Credit: Dave Meltzer - Wrestling Observer Newsletter