WWE has been taping their shows for the last four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, WWE taped this week and next week’s episodes of Raw, and things turned out to be very wild. According to Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, there was a ton of chaos during the tapings. This news comes shortly after WWE announcing Shane McMahon would be returning.
“From what I’ve been told, today’s WWE Raw is apparently ‘totally unprepared’ and ‘chaos’ from the top,” Cassidy wrote on Twitter. Apparently, there’s a lack of leadership and a lot of stress due to the indecisiveness. I’ve been told, ‘The shows will happen and air, but there’s no attainable goal of quality because everything is decided under the pressure cooker of it all coming down to the very last minute.’” Cassidy also said this isn’t the first time that he’s received reports of chaos and multiple re-writes for both Raw and SmackDown. Cassidy then noted that Vince McMahon said his mood during the tapings was “volatile” due to the chaos.
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Other reporters, including Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT and Wrestling Observer Dave Meltzer, confirmed Cassidy’s report of the chaos during the tapings. And due to what happened on Monday, SmackDown tapings for Tuesday have been changed. Cassidy said only one episode of SmackDown would be taped on Tuesday instead of two.
There a few reasons why there have been reported chaos during tapings of Raw and SmackDown. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE has been forced to tape their shows at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. That has led to fans not being allowed to attend Raw or SmackDown, which has also led to ratings being on the decline. Another reason is there have been wrestlers who have decided not to perform due to health and safety concerns. Back in June, it was reported as many as 30 people who have been working in the Performance Center have tested positive for the coronavirus.
WWE is hoping to have live audiences at shows in the near future. SummerSlam is on Aug. 23 and WWE is looking to host the event in an arena somewhere in the northeast part of the country, according to WereslteVotes, it’s unclear if fans will be allowed to attend if WWE is able to land the deal.
