WWE can’t have WrestleMania 36 in front of a rowdy and loud crowd in 2020 due to coronavirus.
WWE knows they can’t have WrestleMania on one night, because four to five hours of matches with no crowd would never work for audiences watching at home.
So, WWE pushed the event over two nights.
Now, WWE knows they can’t have WrestleMania live because of a stay-at-home order by the government to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.
PWTorch reports that WWE is recording WrestleMania matches right now.
WWE taping WrestleMania matches
The City of Orlando is putting a stay at home order in place on March 26 and that means the WWE Performance Center will be shut down and there will be no matches taking place after that until further notice.
This means the only way to have WrestleMania this year on schedule is to shoot the matches now.
That is what they are doing.
Under the Executive Order announced by @OCFLMayor and @orlandomayor today, you should stay at home, unless it is absolutely essential. This takes effect this Thursday, March 26 at 11 p.m. pic.twitter.com/lwak6i4gi7
— City of Orlando (@citybeautiful) March 24, 2020
There is a chance some matches could be filmed after tomorrow if they find somewhere else in the United States to do it that has not put a stay at home order in place yet, especially in the case of the John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt match, which will be filmed in a warehouse.
There are also a pair of matches changed since Dana Brooke and Rey Mysterio were placed in quarantine. The one hurt the worse out of the two is Mysterio, who has built to a U.S. Championship opportunity.
There are also rumors that some of the matches will have two different endings filmed. Only Vince McMahon would know which ending WWE uses to keep any possible leaked spoilers from getting out.
Of course, with only 10 people allowed to be somewhere at one time, there isn’t much of a chance that someone could spoil the endings without McMahon finally figuring out who the leaks are.
WWE WrestleMania 36
There are a few matches that might be easy to workaround.
As mentioned, the John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt match is supposed to have a Hollywood feel in look and design, and likely the editing as well.
The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles match also got a new stipulation this week on Monday Night Raw, with Styles calling it a Boneyard Match, so that might end up on a set as well, similar to the old Undertaker buried alive matches
WrestleMania 36 takes place on April 4 and April 5 which is still a week-and-a-half away. With no wrestling allowed at the Performance Center, that means there will be no SmackDown this week or Raw next week, so expect highlight shows leading to the big event.