It’s a sad time for the world right now is in a panic afraid to catch the Coronavirus, even the wrestlers. I remember first going to the store and seeing empty shelves left and right. I even remember being instructed to protect yourself at all costs, but when it truly kicked in was when I was watching wrestling without a crowd.
Currently, every wrestling promotion is airing all of their shows without a crowd. It’s truly affected almost everything from the product to the storylines and even the matches. We just passed through the first WrestleMania season in history that felt so lackluster it was truly disappointing. Every year, the road to WrestleMania is the highlight of my year and instead every segment, every match suffered. I even told my girlfriend that this was supposed to be the most exciting time and I was so depressed.
One of the downfalls of wrestling is that just like every other business there must be cuts. It’s heartbreaking at any point but it’s expected. How is a business supposed to grow if they don’t weed out the bad fruit? Today was unlike any other season of releases that the WWE Universe has ever experienced. Not only were dozens of superstars let go without notice, but so were backstage officials and board members.
Typically, after the dust settles things would go back to normal business as usual. Not today, not during this time. Many superstars that are released are already in hot water and not being properly utilized but some of these this time around came as such a shock. Names like “The Olympic Gold Medalist” Kurt Angle, Rusev, Gallows & Anderson, Rowan, and most importantly Mike Chioda were all let go. When is the last time you’ve heard of a thirty-year veteran official being fired out of the blue?
It’s surprising when we all believed myself included that the biggest downfall was a WrestleMania without a fan in sight. Yet, we had no clue that things were about to get a hundred times worse. It’s at the moment when you can take a step back and see that this virus has truly changed the pro wrestling scene forever.
I don’t even want to ask the question of what’s next but I feel like it needs to be asked. How long is this pandemic going to last, and how much more of a huge hole is it going to place inside the world of professional wrestling?
While we the WWE Universe wait patiently for this virus to end, we need to enjoy the product at all costs because realistically this is what 2020 may look like for the foreseeable future.
