Backstage Update On WWE & AEW Contingency Plans For COVID Outbreak

Could we soon be back to Daily's Place and the ThunderDome?

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Raw Performance Center
WWE

With the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continuing to spread across the globe, some have pondered what that could mean for the likes of WWE and AEW.

Speaking on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer believes that both promotions are pretty confident that Florida will not be issuing any form of state mandates pertaining to COVID-19. As such, that means WWE and AEW would be able to return to housing shows from Florida if necessary - with AEW having Daily's Place in Jacksonville, and WWE having the Performance Center in Orlando and also the possibility of utilising the ThunderDome once again.

As Meltzer said:

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"I think they're both going to be pretty confident that Florida will not issue any mandates under any circumstance. Obviously, AEW can go back to Jacksonville and WWE can go back to someplace in Florida. You can always do the Performance Center. The problem is that if you put Raw and SmackDown in front of 300 people again, those numbers will crater. So, it's a bad situation, and AEW's numbers will hurt too. I don't know if they'll crater as well, they did okay numbers in Jacksonville. Obviously, if there's no other choice, then yeah, we can go through that again. The ThunderDome thing, I mean they did better in the ThunderDome than the Performance Center, so I think that in that sense WWE could look at a ThunderDome again and try to take residency in a building, but it's hard because I guess you could do the baseball stadium, because baseball isn't starting for months, so I guess they'll go to the Tampa baseball stadium and set up."

Meltzer also made mention how, despite not being formally cancelled as of yet, he fully expects the December 30 WWE live event from Laval, Quebec to be scrapped due to restrictions and regulations being put into place across Quebec.

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.