WWE Performance Center Tapings Possibly Endangered by Florida's New Stay At Home Order
Florida governor Ron DeSantis officially issued a statewide stay-at-home order to curb the [...]
Florida governor Ron DeSantis officially issued a statewide stay-at-home order to curb the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, one that will go into effect on Thursday night and last for at least 30 days. This could be prove to be a problem for WWE, as the company has moved all episodes of Raw, SmackDown and WrestleMania 36 to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando since mid-March in order to keep producing episodes ot television without it being considered a mass gathering (due in large part ot not having fans in the audience). The company taped WrestleMania along with a number of episodes of TV last week, and are reportedly saved up through the April 8 episode of NXT (which still takes place at Full Sail Live elsewhere, but is also without fans).
A stay-at-home order for Orange County, Florida was set to expire on April 9, giving WWE the opportunity to film at the Performance Center without any issues starting with the April 10 episode of SmackDown. But now that this new order is in effect it's unclear if WWE will still be able to tape at the PC or if they'll have to move to yet another location.
BREAKING: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, under pressure, abandons partial measures and issues a statewide stay-at-home order to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. https://t.co/G0OelkM8US
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 1, 2020
Prior to DeSantis' announcement, WWE was reportedly set on continuing to tape from the PC up through the end of April. The company has not released a statement yet on how this new order will affect them.
Rumors around the PC last week were that if the state of FL issued a Stay Home order, which happened today, WWE would reconsider taking a break post Mania. The RAW after is shot. I’ve been told if they are pausing for a while, some footage shot won’t be aired. TBD at this point.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) April 1, 2020
Here's the official WrestleMania 36 card as of now. Matches have been changed based on the numerous reports that have come out since the show was taped.
- WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
- WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman
(Match changed from Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg) - NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
- Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
- SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Sasha Banks vs. Naomi vs. Tamina Snuka
- Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza and Austin Theory
- Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
- SmackDown Tag Team Championships: John Morrison vs. One of The Usos
(Changed from The New Day vs. The Usos vs. John Morrison and The Miz) - Women's Tag Team Championships: The Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
- Edge vs. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing)
- The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Boneyard Match
- John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (Firefly Fun House Match)
- Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
- Elias vs. King Baron Corbin
- Bobby Lashley vs. Aleister Black
- Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler