Professional Wrestling might be fake, but the business Vince McMahon’s company brings in is very real. Thousands pack arenas and stadiums to see the faces and heels of the company duke it out, and no event is bigger than Wrestlemania. In our current COVID-19 coronavirus world, what does Bodog’s odds say will happen at the Showcase of the Immortals?
Before even considering the matches and the bookmakers lines, we have to take a look at how the current epidemic has affected the show. As the NBA, NHL and MLB have suspended their leagues, the WWE originally intended to go through with their biggest show of the year, to be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on April 5. But rather than risk infecting a potential 74,512 in attendance with COVID-19, the company has taken the precautious step of deciding to broadcast from their WWE training facility in Orlando, Florida, without an audience.
If you saw any of the WWE’s product from the past week, you know this is going to be weird. Wrestlers stood in the ring, taunting other wrestlers they just left behind in the locker room. It was a novelty to watch, but the pretend-combat and drama of the WWE doesn’t make a lot of sense without a crowd to watch it.
Credit should be given to the director and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, though. When Austin asked the crowd to give him a “Hell Yeah,” the feed cut to a live shot of empty seats.