WWE Kept Talent Off Holiday Tour Events To Minimize Risk Of Losing Day 1 Matches

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to influence the world of sports. That includes professional wrestling. After nearly a year of events without crowds, fans were ready to get back to some semblance of normal.

Things went well for the first several months after fans returned. WWE’s live tour schedule was going on as smoothly as it could. AEW didn’t have any issues getting back on the road, either. That was until the Omicron variant of the virus began to take hold.

WWE had several performers held out of live events over the weekend. The company is hoping that the upcoming Day 1 pay-per-view becomes a big annual event. An internal outbreak of COVID is threatening that. Dave Meltzer stated on Twitter that some of the weekend holdouts were to protect main event talent scheduled for Day 1, not because of positive tests.

“Just a note that not everyone off tonight’s WWE shows tested positive. There are people being kept off the shows who haven’t tested positive to minimize risk so the PPV headliners are at less risk of having to miss the event on Saturday.”

Advertising

Advertising

We do know that Seth Rollins and others have tested positive for the virus. The company is hoping that nobody else gets sick before PPV. For now, the direction of the show is up in the air as the company evaluates what talent is going to be available for Day 1.

This could be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to COVID altering WWE’s plans. As the winter continues and the virus spreads, they may have to re-evaluate their internal policies similarly to the NFL. It is a nervous time to be a wrestling fan. A year without fans is still fresh in the mind of many, and nobody wants to go back to that.

Do you think WWE will have to make major changes to the Day 1 PPV? Let us know in the comments!