10 Times WWE Narrowly Avoided Disaster

by Michael Sidgwick

1. Zero COVID Pushback

WWE WrestleMania 36 Drew McIntyre
WWE.com

At time of writing, Novak Djokovic is getting horrendous press for, among other things, knowingly and uncaringly spreading the 'rona that he seems to think is no big deal.

WWE escaped a similar level of scrutiny and criticism for its piss-poor and potentially dangerous handling of the pandemic. To make this expressly clear: WWE did not allow talents who had tested positive to just walk around and carry on as normal...

...because, until several outbreaks affected the camp, they didn't conduct testing at all!

Despite availability - AEW tested easily enough in parallel - WWE for a time elected only to perform temperature checks just outside of its Performance Center Orlando, Florida residency.

"We're not in North Dakota pal, you're going to be a bit warm, come on in."

Kevin Owens had to ask for mask-wearing to become policy, and over a year later, WWE simply stopped testing per Fightful Select, despite the incredible pace of the omicron surge, on the "It's probably fine isn't it" principle.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!