Live sports returned to TV this week … sort of, depending on your perspective of pro wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Despite the lockdowns in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, The WWE put on a live show, without an audience, Monday night from its performance center at Full Sail University, right up the road in Winter Park. WWE plans to put on, in the same way, its NXT episodes, which air Thursdays and are also shot at Full Sail, a few miles west of UCF.
Raw, in which WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defeated United State Champion Andrade (and then got attacked by contender Seth Rollins afterwards, but enough about the story line), aired Monday on the USA Network. It is also producing content for its one WWE Network. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax also won qualifiers for an upcoming “Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match” … which means the production will continue.
As an addition to industries allowed to continue working through the “Stay at Home” mandate, “professional sports and media production with a national audience — including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production” are now essential industries … “only if the location is closed to the general public.”
