While every other sports organization in the world has postponed their seasons and events in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, Vincent Kennedy McMahon remains committed to hosting Wrestlemania 36 in less than three weeks. That said, the WWE's biggest PPV event of the year will not be held in front of 70,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium as originally planned.
The WWE recently issued an official statement regarding the status of Wrestlemania 36, revealing that the event will now take place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Needless to say, fans will not be allowed inside the building.
The company's statement reads:
"In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania."
WWE has filmed their flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown, at the training facility since last week. If you've tuned in, you likely agree that it was incredible difficult to watch, or be invested in, any of the matches at the empty arena. Nonetheless, it appears as though the show will go.
Matches currently scheduled for Wrestlemania 36 are as follow:
WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs Drew McIntyre
WWE Universal Championship Match: Goldberg (c) vs Roman Reigns
WWE NXT Women’s Championship Match: Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte Flair
RAW Women’s Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs Shayna Baszler
Last Man Standing Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton
John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins