WWE Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie McMahon sat down with Variety.com this week to discuss what measures WWE have in place to protect talent, performers and employees against the outbreak of Coronavirus.
Since the global pandemic has forced everyone to make drastic changes to their everyday lives and shut down the entertainment and live event industries, WWE moved all of their programming into the Performance Center in Orlando, FL.
While at the Performance Center WWE has been recording weeks worth of footage for RAW, SmackDown, NXT and WrestleMania before the county goes into full lockdown. These tapings are said to have been filmed in multiple locations on closed sets in order to limit the amount of personnel in attendance at one time.
In the interview, Stephanie talks about how the company are remaining cautious during the relocated recording process.
“At a typical event, talent are milling about, they’re at catering or wherever when they’re not actually in part of the show. That’s not allowed now. There’s extensive testing and screening when you first come in the facility regardless of whether you’re a talent, a crew member, or anyone else. Working with our doctors, you have your temperature taken. If you have a temperature over 100.4 degrees, you are automatically asked to leave.”
Stephanie added that there are strict measures in place regarding entry in the Performance Center for those who have been out or been in touch or in contact with anyone who’s been out of the country.
“If you’ve been out of the country or been in touch or in contact with anybody who’s been out of the country you’re not allowed in the facility. We’re taking every precaution we can. It’s also why you don’t see talent or anyone else in the audience. We really are adhering to all the guidelines that we can to maintain the health and safety of our crew and our performers.”
McMahon would also address the major safety issue of travel that all WWE performers face day in and day out.
“We have a lot of talent who live in the Florida area, which is very helpful. During any type of extensive taping period we are asking all of our talent to remain in the Orlando area and not travel.”
The effect of the outbreak has already forced a number of WWE talent into quarantine. Dana Brooke has been removed from the Six-Pack Challenge for SmackDown Women’s Championship, while Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns will also not be taking part.
Stephanie would go on to say that WWE is doing everything they can to ensure that they serve the “WWE Universe” during this unprecedented time.
“WWE is fan first. We are all about providing content for our fans, providing an experience for them that is worthy of their passion. They come first. Everything we do, we do through a lens of ‘How can we best serve our fans?’”
In order to do this, McMahon revealed that WWE is experimenting with technology that would allow fans to experience WrestleMania virtually, as “ultimately what we want to do is provide our audience with that escape.”
WrestleMania is due to to be shown over two days for the first time ever, on April 4th and 5th on WWE Network.
What do make of Stephanie’s statements? Let us know below and as always stay tuned to Diva Dirt for all of your WWE news, reviews and updates.
