Robert Roode has been off WWE television for well over two months at this point, and his return timetable continues to be up in the air as the present health situation continues. Roode last wrestled in the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber match on March 8th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania just one week before all of WWE’s television moved production to Orlando, Florida due to the COVID-19 situation. The reason for Roode’s absence has to do more with where he lives than his own personal feelings on traveling during the present situation, according to a report this week in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
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The borders between the United States and Canada have been closed to all non-essential travel for weeks now, and that includes Roode who still resides in Canada. Due to this, he is simply unable to travel to Orlando for the tapings. The same goes for the Singh Brothers, who also live in Canada.
The travel situation has also impacted the ability for some U.K. talents to travel to Orlando, including NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin, as well as Pete Dunne.
There are several Canadian wrestlers on the roster, but many of them have moved to the United States over the years (this would include Edge) so they are obviously not impacted by this situation. Roode and the Singhs still have in Canada.
One name that jumps out is Brock Lesnar, who lives in Canada but has been able to travel to Orlando. Dave Meltzer alleges in the Observer report that WWE is able to pull some strings to get him to Orlando for tapings. It’s unclear what precisely that means, though it could have something to do with traveling by private plane versus commercially as some of the other names on this list would typically travel.
