The WWE has made dozens of changes since the coronavirus pandemic first broke out in March, but based on the latest reports from Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer, Vince McMahon isn’t very concerned with it. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer stated, “As it was explained to me, Vince McMahon is not receptive to the outside world. He finds what’s going on in the outside world to be an annoyance because it is getting in the way of his vision. He’s got a vision, and all these people are getting in the way of what he wants to do.”
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He also said that the company hasn’t tested anybody on the active roster, which is in stark contrast to what AEW and UFC (which started holding events again this past Saturday) have been doing.
“[UFC is] doing 1,200 COVID tests in one week…AEW is testing everyone,” Meltzer said. “WWE has still yet to do, as far as I know, one test. Which surprised me, because a lot of people were thinking that now that AEW is testing and UFC is testing, that WWE would follow suit to keep.”
The WWE has been forced to host its weekly television episodes (minus NXT) from inside the WWE Performance Center in Orlando since mid-March. On April 15 the company announced a massive cost-cutting effort that resulted in numerous employees getting either let go or furloughed. Since then more than 30 active wrestlers have been released from their contratcs, most notably Rusev, Zack Ryder, EC3, Drake Maverick, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Sarah Logan, Cain Velasquez and Curtis Axel.
However McMahon stated in the quarterly earnings financial statement that, from a business perspective, WWE had done a good job of responding to the pandemic.
“Our first quarter financial performance was strong and largely unimpacted by the COVID-19 outbreak,” McMahon said. “Now we are in the midst of unprecedented times, which require us to be especially nimble, creative and efficient in order to ensure the ling-term value of WWE. We are taking precautions to protect the health and safety of our performers and staff as we produce content in new ways, engage fans with a much-needed diversion and operate effectively in this evolving environment.”
From a creative standpoint the lack of fans has forced WWE to try new things like the series of cinematic matches. @WrestleVotes pointed out on Thursday that a major storyline (a la the Nexus invasion and McMahon’s “death”) was scrapped due to the lack of crowds.
FWIW: I’ve been told there was a long major storyline that was to unfold over the span of weeks during the spring & summer, similar to the McMahon limo explosion or the Nexus invasion debut, that was put on hold due to no fans in attendance. Crowd reaction plays a major part.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) May 14, 2020
