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WrestleMania is getting to be more of a cluster every day. As Mike reported here on the site (and I have heard through conversations as well), many, many WWE talents want nothing to do with appearing on this year’s WrestleMania. And who can blame them? We all know Vince McMahon’s “The Show Must Go On” mentality. After all, he famously kept a PPV going after Owen Hart died. In many cases, I agree with his mentality. However, when you are talking about continuing a show when someone dies or in the midst of a pandemic, I am sorry, it is just wrong, on so, so many levels. While Vince cavorts on his private jet, insulated from the masses, he asks his talent to go out among the carriers of disease and expose themselves while make their way to Florida, where they then get to lock up with people and work matches in front of no one. All at a time when the number of positive COVID-19 tests is rising exponentially by the day. He is asking them to put their health of themselves and their family in danger and guess what? Some people resent the hell out of him doing so, and rightly so. If he is shocked to find out that a lot of his talents feel that way he is more out of touch with reality than some of his booking suggests he is. And for what? To put on a far too large taped event that will most probably seem painfully longer than the usual Mania (and many of them are indeed painfully long) in front of an empty building, that will generate very little revenue for the company. And Vince wonders why some investors have run away from his stock in the last year. Decisions like this one are exactly why. He didn’t HAVE to do WrestleMania like this. He could have postponed it, been a hero to his talent AND made a lot more money from it than he will. Instead, he chose to do this. It’s sad, it really is.
Kudos to Roman Reigns. It’s no secret to long time readers of this site that I have never understood the animus that some people have felt for, or at least showed to, Roman Reigns. Every time someone tried to explain it to me, it made less sense to me. Personally, I have always respected the man’s work and the way he has carried himself as a person, and that was before I found out the battle he had fought against leukemia to even make it to WWE to begin with. I would hope that even his most vocal critic would show massive respect for his decision to opt out of wrestling Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania. I have been saying for weeks now that it’s just bizarre to me that while the country is telling people to keep a six foot distance from each other that people were locking up and wrestling, especially when you consider that many of those people are traveling from different places to do so. COVID-19’s biggest way of transmission is from close person to person contact. It doesn’t get any closer than two people locking up in a wrestling match. I immediately thought that given his compromised immune system, which puts him at a far greater risk of serious complications, or worse, were he to get the virus, Vince McMahon would say, “Roman, you are taking some time off until this passes pal. I care about you.” Instead, he booked him into one of the top matches. Roman has always been a good company man and he went along with it. I can only imagine what he was thinking. “I just beat cancer for the second time and this guy wants me to work a wrestling match? Is he crazy?” My guess that one day Joe took over and told Roman, NOPE, we are not doing this. We have ourself and our family to think of. We owe them our best. We don’t owe it to someone who would put us in a position like this so we are telling him we are out. Good for you Roman, I have nothing but respect for you doing the right thing.
And the same goes for anyone else who makes the call Roman did. Here’s the deal, at the end of the day a person has to stand up for themselves and what they believe in. Personally, if I were a wrestler the only way I would have been at any of the shows last week was if I lived in Florida and was able to drive. I can’t say I would have actually wrestled anyone, I probably wouldn’t have. Now? I wouldn’t even go to the PC, especially as the case numbers show more and more younger people getting really sick from the virus. So if any other talent steps up and say no way I am doing this, being for WrestleMania or whatever comes thereafter, I have nothing but respect for them. And if Vince holds it against them, I hope Tony Khan is waiting with a big money deal for them.
Without violating the rules, AEW had a hard time recreating last week’s magic on Dynamite. Speaking of AEW, what a difference a week makes. The 3/18 Dynamite was probably the company’s best show. This week’s? It was just like what WWE has been doing. That isn’t an insult at all either. Last week, they bent the rules and were able to have a livelier atmosphere at the show. This week? Not only couldn’t they do that but the restrictions on talent coming in from places like California and New York left them with a skeleton crew and the same limitations that WWE has faced when they presented TV. For now, it’s the new normal. There isn’t really much that either WWE or AEW can do to make wrestling more like the product we have come to expect under the current conditions. That makes one wonder….
What is the immediate future? That is the million dollar question right there. How can WWE and AEW continue to do TV going forward? Florida is making it harder and harder to get talent into the state, where they both record. As the cases grow, and they are growing, it’s possible air travel will be shut down. It’s possible people won’t be able to leave their home to travel for something deemed non-essential, which wrestling is. What will WWE and AEW do then? Well, I have given WWE some ideas here in the past if they care what I think. AEW? Well with their limited amount of past content, they may need to go on a hiatus. And if they do, that isn’t the worst thing in the world. Over the last few months, they have gotten their product to a play where it’s consistently good so if they do have to take some time off, they can just work on improving that so that when they come back, it should be better than ever. We will get past this and when we do, they will all be able to entertain us. Stay safe everyone.
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