WWE announced on Monday that WrestleMania 36 would no longer take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on April 5. Instead, the show will take place at the WWE Peformance Center on the same day in front of no crowd, the same setup Raw, SmackDown and NXT have adopted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Shortly after the initial statement, WWE put out a second statement confirming that both the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020 Induction Ceremony (originally scheduled for April 2) and NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay (April 4) will both be moved. The two events were scheduled to take place inside the Amalie Arena in Tampa.
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“The WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony and NXT TakeOver will not take place as previously scheduled. We will share further details as they become available,” the statement read.
Here’s the original statement regarding WrestleMania: “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 pm 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.”
The 2020 Hall of Fame Class will include Batista, The New World Order (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman), The Bella Twins, British Bulldog, John Bradshaw Layfield and Jushin “Thunder” Liger. The Japanese legend’s induction was announced early Monday morning.
“Wow! This was really a huge surprise,” Liger told New Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after learning the news. “There are tons of better wrestlers to give this honor to than me. After Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami were the first two into the Hall of Fame, for me to be number three is just a huge shock.”
So far the only match confirmed for TakeOver: Tampa Bay is a six-woman ladder match to crown the No. 1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship, which will be defend at WrestleMania 36.
Check out the full Mania card below:
- WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
- WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns
- John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
- Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
- NXT Women’s Championship Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
- AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker
- Edge vs. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing)
