UPDATE: We reported earlier today here on eWn that Vince McMahon made the call within the past few days to have WWE return to airing live broadcasts. All of the events will take place from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL with no fans in attendance. Of course, Florida has a statewide stay-at-home order in effect right now.
According to the report from Fightful Select, some of the Superstars that were backstage at last night’s SmackDown TV tapings were given a letter to give to law enforcement if they were questioned. The letter claims they are “essential media.”
For what it’s worth, Florida’s stay-at-home order allows for the exemption of “Newspapers, television, radio, and other media services.” That is likely how WWE is getting around the order and being allowed to film their content.
It should also be noted that many within the company are upset over how Vince McMahon is being so “aggressive” and deciding to change the TV schedule to a live format instead of taping the content and then letting everyone go back home to quarantine. As you’d expect, many don’t want to travel on airplanes, etc. these days. There were people backstage who were “shocked” by McMahon making the decision to go live again. Many of the talents had no idea what they were doing until they got to the TV tapings.
ORIGINAL: It was reported on Friday night that WWE will be airing live episodes of Raw, NXT, and SmackDown at the Performance Center in Orlando starting next week. That is a change from the string of TV tapings that were planned for the next several days.
Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the change came from Vince McMahon. After WWE had been taping SmackDown and 205 Live on Friday, McMahon decided he wanted to change things up and keeps the shows “as close to live as soon as possible.”
Many within the company were shocked by the decision due to the current economic situation. There’s speculation that the possible reason behind the decision was due to WWE’s contracts with NBC Universal and FOX as those deals allow for a certain amount of taped shows during the year.
The number is three episodes a year. There’s concern that FOX and NBC could have grounds to change up the deals if WWE goes over that limit.
