Future NFL Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski is still scheduled to make his WWE SmackDown debut this Friday, March 20th - even if there won't be any fans in attendance. As of this writing, the WWE is still planning to air Raw and SmackDown at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, although those plans could change quickly given the national emergency at hand.
According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer (H/T Wrestling News), the former New England Patriots tight end will take part in multiple matches as part of his newly signed WWE deal. One of those will likely take place at SummerSlam, which is scheduled to take place in Boston on August 23rd.
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Gronkowski, 30, is an obvious fit for the WWE given his charismatic persona and, obviously, his athleticism. He first dipped into the WWE waters back in 2017 when he helped his good friend, WWE superstar Mojo Rawley, win the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 33 and he immediately came off as a natural.
Last August, Gronk explained that he was interested in having a big match with the company, but doubted that he'd ever be a full-time talent.
"With wrestling, I don't feel like I would be a full-time wrestler, but there is one thing I'm down for," Gronkowski said (H/T ESPN). "And that's to do one crazy match. Practice it for a little bit, go out there -- like in a Royal Rumble -- go out there, I got my friend in WWE [Rawley], practice it and do a full-on WWE match. I'm not saying when, maybe five years. I got the rest of my life to do that. I've always dreamed about doing that, just one time, going in there and going full-out. That may be a possibility, one time, down the road."
It remains to be seen what the WWE has planned for the early stages of Gronk's professional wrestling career, but we expect to learn more this Friday.