WWE: Potential Reason for Lack of WrestleMania 36 Decision, 205 Live Status, Trademarks

Rumor: WWE Unwilling to Cancel WrestleMania 36 Due to Insurance Money Reasons

A recent episode of Fightful’s List & Ya Boy podcast with Jimmy Van talked about a possible reason why WWE has been thus far unwilling to cancel WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida.

Van stated that the status of insurance money for WrestleMania 36 likely has been playing a major role in the hesitation by both the city of Tampa and WWE on making any official decision for the event. If the city or state of Florida only recommends and not orders WWE to cancel the event and WWE follows through, then the company might not be able to recover some of their financial losses from the event’s cancellation because of insurance related reasons.

“The answer comes down to insurance coverage. In pro sports, most leagues opt to pay for premium coverage called communicable disease-related losses. If a pro league acts on the recommendation to cancel as opposed to the order to cancel, they may not be able to trigger coverage, that they may not be able to recoup losses through insurance. That’s what we first saw in Ohio. They recommended canceling events and the Columbus Blue Jackets came out and said they are going to go on as planned. It was because of insurance. But now, Ohio has come out and said, ‘We’re ordering you to do this.’

I don’t know what kind of insurance WWE has for WrestleMania, but my guess, especially for an event of that size and that many people, it’s probably similar to most pro leagues. WWE is not going to cancel WrestleMania based on the recommendation from the city of Tampa. They will cancel WrestleMania or move WrestleMania or reschedule WrestleMania if they’re ordered to. That to me is the difference.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

WWE Reportedly Recently Made Changes for 205 Live Tapings

WWE has recently changed their taping schedule for Fridays and their 205 Live brand.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the company’s Friday schedule now starts with 205 Live being taped first, then Friday Night SmackDown, and ends with a post-SmackDown dark match.

Meltzer said that the changes should have led to more active crowds for 205 Live shows but instead no real change has occurred due to the brand being devalued for a long while and matches still are struggling to get good crowd reactions.

WWE Files Several New Trademarks

WWE filed several new trademarks to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Trademarks for “The Deadman” and “The Phenom” were filed on March 4th for entertainment and wrestling-related purposes. PWInsider reported that the company had filed a similar trademark for “The Phenom” last year that is still active and the reason for this new filing is currently unknown.

A trademark for “Apex Predator” was filed on March 5th for entertainment and wrestling-related purposes.