[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Friday News Edition):

Originally Posted by Observer The wrestling world continues to react to the coronavirus outbreak and the large gathering bans happening around the United States. NXT Friday's show in Venice, Florida, was canceled as Sarasota County canceled all public events. That news was not formally announced by their or WWE's Twitter account as of this writing. Saturday's show in Daytona, Florida, at the Midtown Cultural & Educational Center was also canceled by the mayor. However, you can still buy tickets on Ticketmaster as of this wriing, nor has WWE or NXT officially announced it. Other Shows The Bullet Club Beach Party set for Mania week in Tampa, FL, has been canceled. The Kevin Owens Inside The Ropes One Night Only event has been rescheduled for June 5th in Glasgow, Scotland. The EVOLVE March 27-29 Recruitment Camp in Port Richey, FL, is still happening as scheduled.

Originally Posted by PWI Full Sail University, the home of WWE NXT's weekly broadcasts, announced today that they are shutting down all classes, labs and "group events" going forward due to the coronavirus outbreak, which was declared a National Emergency today in the United States. NXT's live Wednesday night tapings at Full Sail Live are also suspended. PWInsider.com has confirmed that going forward, NXT will be broadcasting out of the WWE Performance Center, as it did this past week due to a conflict that prevented them from running Full Sail. While WWE did bring in three bus-loads of fans for this past week's taping, it is not likely they would do that for additional tapings at the PC, instead taping with no fans present and only "essential" personnel in house. The plan is to return to Full Sail when that is feasible.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE is proceeding with Friday Night SmackDown at its new location at the WWE Performance Center tonight with no fans in attendance ... It is going to be a very strange show beyond the empty arena, the company must move ahead with the build toward WrestleMania even though that event must be in question. Given the lengths that many sports leagues have taken, WWE hasn’t come off well with their aversion to acknowledging reality and the potential health risks for its talent. For the performers, the idea of traveling across the country in this climate – even for empty arena shows – must be worrisome on top of their given line of work coming into close contact with others as a requisite job requirement. If it gets to a point where one performer tests positive for the virus, it will virtually shut down the ability to do shows as it would affect the locker room that would need to be tested and quarantined as we have seen in the NBA with two positive cases. We are not talking about an era in the company where you didn’t get paid if you didn’t work and while talent will take a degree of a hit without live events, it isn’t like they won’t be paid and would probably put themselves and their families at ease being home and not traveling the country and potentially bringing a virus back to them. I don’t envy the decision-makers and some leeway should be provided but there comes a point where you must watch the example set by other competing sports leagues and franchises. It is not to say WWE couldn’t continue to produce programming for the USA Network and Fox during a down period from outside the ring content, a ‘broadcast premiere’ of last year’s WrestleMania, a sit-down interview with Vince McMahon and other key figures addressing the crisis. A decision regarding WrestleMania should have been made this week as delaying the decision only causes more anxiety for those reliant on the show happening. It appears that neither WWE nor the City of Tampa wants to be the ones to tell fans that Christmas is canceled but Santa can’t make any toys if he’s sick. There are also the financial implications that need to be explored of who is on the hook for what costs if they pull the plug, but one side needs to take the reigns on this. I truly empathize with the countless independent promoters and wrestlers that have so much riding on this week of shows happening. They are in a painful limbo as they await the dominoes to fall and rides on whether WWE proceeds ahead. Frankly, that decision may be taken away from WWE and a ruling is made that it just cannot happen.

Post Wrestling's John Pollock had an interesting take on WWE's handling of the coronavirus situation in general. In regards to his idea of WWE doing "out of the ring" content for USA Network, TNT did that for their first Inside The NBA show following the NBA season's postponement where it was just interviews and discussion about the virus and its impact on the league.

Originally Posted by PWI Major League Wrestling's combined event in partnership with AAA tonight in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, the AAA vs. MLW Super Series at Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez will go on as scheduled, but without a pretty major person. MLW owner Court Bauer will be missing his first ever MLW show as he's been in the middle of negotiating what we are told is "high level TV talks" and has been back and forth between LA and NYC working on a deal. In his absence, Konnan and Mr Saint Laurent (head of MLW Talent Relations) will be running the show with Bauer communicating via Facetime. We are told MLW has enough content in the can already that after tonight's taping, they expect to be able to continue to deliver new episodes to BeIN Sport weekly without a problem. Given the way things are going with the coronavirus outbreak, MLW is mapping out numerous contingency plans ranging from the next six weeks to the next six months, attempting to plan ahead.

Originally Posted by PWI Roman Reigns liked a tweet from a fan who showed concern for his compromised immune system due to his battle with leukemia and performing at WrestleMania Dear @WWERomanReigns, Please take extra precautions and sit out WrestleMania if you have to. As a cancer survivor, you are already likely to have a compromised immune system. ???????? Sincerely, A concerned fan ???????? — ????J0SE (@JoseCienAlmas) March 12, 2020

Link: https://twitter.com/JoseCienAlmas/st...13372773945345

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News is reporting that more 1993 WCW Saturday Night is coming to WWE Network This Monday, March 16 as a part of the March classic content drop

Originally Posted by PWI Q - Have you heard anything about the tiered WWE Network finally taken shape and being officially launched? A - We have been told that there has been no real indication internally as to when they will launch. The original plan was to launch in January but then that was delayed.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling David Bixenspan has a feature on VICE regarding the impact a cancellation of WrestleMania Weekend will have on independent promotions and conventions. The article features comments from Brett Lauderdale of Game Changer Wrestling, wrestler Chris Dickinson, and the most sobering account from Michael Bochicchio of Highspots who stated that a full cancellation would likely result in the promoter having to sell his house.

Link: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/p...-wrestling-wwe

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Michael Bochiccio at Highspots did a video Q&A on the current situation involving WrestleCon for WrestleMania Weekend amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The promoter of the convention stated they have not canceled the event yet due to the liability he would assume by canceling it on his own. He stated that the hotel fee alone by canceling now would bankrupt WrestleCon and potentially bankrupt Highspots, as well. He added that he has put in close to $200,000 for this convention and assured anyone that has purchased a ticket to the convention they will receive a full refund.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling EVOLVE has said they will follow the lead of WrestleMania regarding their shows in Tampa that weekend and are still scheduled to proceed as of this writing.

Originally Posted by Fightful WrestleTalk announced that it will do a show on March 16 to help support independent wrestlers whose bookings have been impacted by the coronavirus. The show will feature matches from Will Ospreay, Bea Priestley, David Starr, Rampage Brown and more. Full details here.

Link: https://wrestletalk.com/news/wrestle...o-fans-monday/

Originally Posted by Fightful Although he plays a malicious character with no remorse when he's inside the squared circle, Sami Callihan is urging the wrestling community to come together like never before during the Coronavirus outbreak and says that he will not be appearing at any wrestling events until the global pandemic is more contained. Making the statement on his Twitter account, this comes amid uncertainty surrounding wrestling event set to take place during WrestleMania 36 weekend in Tampa, Florida. Sami says that at this time it is not about characters or storylines but about keeping one another safe.

Link: https://twitter.com/TheSamiCallihan/...13618342662145


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