The coronavirus situation in WWE has been described as a mess, according to a new report from Fightful Select. As noted, multiple people have tested positive for COVID-19 and the company held another round of drive-through testing at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL today.
After some speculation, WWE is now moving forward with the TV tapings scheduled for Friday and Saturday. WWE NXT talents were reportedly sent a message on Thursday morning after 9am ET that said they were needed for the tapings, per WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The message sent this morning read like this:
“Per Vince, ALL Talent are needed for TV on Friday & Saturday. Please go to PC by 10:30 AM TODAY for drive-through COVID testing. If you took test yesterday, you don’t need to today. If you are in high level storyline, you will be off camera. Thanks. **IMPORTANT: after test, you will need to remain ISOLATED AND QUARANTINED until after the TV tapings.”
Some of the wrestlers missed the aforementioned testing deadline and were awaiting a new location as of 5pm ET today.
The people who were tested yesterday do not have their test results back yet. Some NXT talent and developmental trainees were reportedly going to skip this week’s tapings after the second COVID-19 test, and then the numerous other tests. Those talents were reportedly urged to come in to work even after they expressed that they were not comfortable with working. It’s been reported for a few months now that WWE officials made it clear to employees that they did not have to work during the COVID-19 pandemic if they didn’t feel comfortable doing so, and that the decision would not be held against them in the future.
According to the report, WWE talents have not been informed of even an approximate number of positive tests, or who the people are that tested positive. To get an idea of how in the dark WWE is keeping the roster on the positive COVID-19 tests, several wrestlers reportedly contacted the outlet in regards to the news coming out about the positive tests with one talent even asking how many positive tests were rumored because the site would know better than them.
It looks like WWE is taking a different approach with this round of positive tests as back in April they informed talents how the first positive test was likely contracted and later issued an update on the person via an internal memo.
There are also main roster talents who are upset about how the company is handling these positive COVID-19 tests. One main roster wrestler reportedly said they’d prefer if WWE had testing set post-tapings. Another main roster Superstar was especially concerned for Kayla Braxton, who announced this morning that she has the virus a second time after originally coming down with it in late March.
Regarding NXT talents, it was noted that multiple wrestlers from the brand had to be re-tested after “being exposed to somebody positive.” They tested negative. There was some concern over a few small gatherings that took place among the wrestlers, considering how the rumored number of infected employees is so high. It’s been reported by multiple sources that there could be as many as two dozen positive tests from within WWE, but that number has not been confirmed. It was also said that this is across various departments, and there are still some people at the Performance Center who were not required to come in for testing.
We noted before that WWE would not be inviting “family and friends” to the Performance Center this weekend to serve as fans in the crowd as they have in recent weeks. While they are not allowed at the tapings this Friday and Saturday, it was noted that it’s possible they will be allowed back in the crowd in the future.
Stay tuned for more on the COVID-19 outbreak in WWE.
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