Considering that the Olympics are being delayed, I am beyond shocked that Wrestlemania 36 is still happening despite COVID-19. However, they are going to have to change some of the lineups because two of their headliners are currently in quarantine.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, both Dana Brooke and Rey Mysterio have been quarantined and that means Brooke has been pulled from the SmackDown Women’s Title match that was supposed to take place at her huge Wrestling event. Rey Mysterio has been pulled from a potential United States Title match as well. Neither has spoken out about this, but all I can say that the very fact that Wrestlemania is happening is ludicrous.
Brooke is currently sick and there is no telling, with a sport as close contact heavy as wrestling, if there has been exposure to other people who are currently asymptomatic. This event should be postponed and while there is plenty of time between now and April 4-5, with the confirmed positive cases rising every single day and the President already trying to push people back into the workforce, it seems really irresponsible to put athletes into this situation. Even if there will be no audience.
“In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 p.m. ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania,” a statement from the WWE read.
The Tampa Bay Local Organizing Committee also released a statement:
“Our community has waited 36 years to host WrestleMania, and while we are saddened that this unforeseen situation has led us to today’s announcement, this is totally the right call for the safety and security of everyone involved. A huge thank-you to all of our local leaders and our friends at the WWE, as we collectively worked through the unprecedented fluidity of the last few weeks. The Team Tampa Bay-WWE partnership has never been stronger.”
Will that even be “fun” for the performers? Part of the thrill is being in front of a crowd.
But we are walking about the WWE here. While I have grown up with wrestling and have even made it to some really awesome live events, there is no denying that the company has not set up good health care for their employees. Due to their “free agent” contracts, as explored on an excellent episode of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, they are tied to the company in extremely unhealthy ways.
At this moment, Vice TV is doing a documentary series called “Dark Side Of The Ring” and the first two episodes are about Chris Benoit, the popular wrestler who murdered his wife and child before taking his own life. When they did an autopsy they found he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and that according to doctors, “Benoit’s brain was so severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.”
This is not the same thing, but we know now that anyone can die from the pandemic and we have already lost thousands of people to COVID-19 worldwide. I get needed something to look forward to, but the WWE is the most popular sports network on Earth. Surely, they can pause in order to make sure everyone is okay and then give their athletes and fans the show they deserve?
(via Wrestling Inc, image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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