Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, fox, NXT, nxt uk, Raw, Smackdown, streaming, television, tv, usa, Vince McMahon, wrestling, wwe

Facing Backlash, WWE Goes to Alternating Taped and Live Shows

With a nonstop onslaught of bad press this week, WWE has walked back the decision that kicked everything off. The company will no longer produce weekly live shows, instead switching to a one week live, one week taped schedule following next week's live broadcasts. After taking a beating in the media for their original decision to switch to live broadcasts, potentially putting performers and crew in more danger by making them travel weekly, WWE turned to Pro Wrestling Sheet, the wrestling news site run by WWE Backstage contributor Ryan Satin, for a nice headline like "WWE Making Adjustments To Filming Schedule To Increase Performer Safety."

That headline certainly sounds a lot better than WWE to Film Three Weekly Live Shows in Middle of Pandemic, WWE Earns "Essential" Exemption from Florida on Same Day McMahon SuperPac Pledges $18.5 Million in State, WWE Admits Talent Tested Positive for COVID-19 After Dirt Sheet Reports It, WWE Lays Off More Than Three Dozen Workers After Bragging They Have $500 Million to Spare, or WWE Announces $9.5 Million Stock Dividend After Laying Off Employees. Thank goodness for access journalism. In any case, WWE will now film half the live weekly broadcasts as previously planned, which is definitely better for performers and crew who will need to travel less and thus put themselves and others at less risk of coronavirus infection. Pro Wrestling Sheet published a schedule of tapings that will, starting after next week, tape two episodes each week of Raw and NXT, one to air the same day and one the following week. Two episodes of SmackDown will tape next Saturday and then it will be taped two episodes at a time on Tuesdays after that.

Pro Wrestling Sheet's article goes on to dutifully tout the safety precautions the company is taking to protect its workers at the WWE Performance Center, which includes facemasks, sanitation, and basic social distancing measures (you know, like when they're sweating on each other in the ring). IT then follows up with a statement from WWE, which reads, "We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times. We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff. As a brand that has been woven into the fabric of society, WWE and its Superstars bring families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination, and perseverance." WWE has been bringing people together this past week, but mainly in terms of a lot of people collectively realizing what the company's biggest priorities are and, as importantly, what they aren't.

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