Florida Declared WWE an “Essential Business,” Allowing Them to Continue Doing Shows (Update)

We now have an answer for how WWE is able to continue to operate despite the state of Florida ordering non-essential businesses closed.

During a press conference today, Orange County mayor Jerry Demings was asked about how WWE has been able to continue running shows despite a shelter-at-home order, and he said that they were deemed an “essential business” by the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

“I think initially there was a review that was done and they were not initially deemed an essential business. With some conversation with the governor’s office regarding the governor’s order, they were deemed an essential business. And so therefore they were allowed to remain open,” Demings said.

He was also asked about the reports that someone in WWE tested positive for COVID-19.

“In terms of the specifics associated with the wrestler or personality who tested positive, I don’t know any of the details of that obviously because of HIPAA laws, etc.” he said. “But that’s like a little family, a family of professional athletes that wrestle and if one of my family members tested positive in my house, that would be concerning to me. We would have to make some provisions in my house to make sure that the rest of us do not get infected. And so I would assume from a business perspective, WWE is doing that type of analysis of its own family.”

Footage of @OCFLMayor's statement on WWE running live TV tapings within the county right now: pic.twitter.com/6HVJr2TxcO

— Harry (@harryaaron) April 13, 2020

Linda McMahon, who has deep ties to the Republican party and is the head of the pro-Trump super PAC “America First Action,” has donated millions of dollars to Republican causes and politicians. McMahon’s super PAC plans to raise $300 million to spend primarily in battleground states like Florida to help re-elect Donald Trump. Florida governor Ron DeSantis is a Republican.

Update

A memo released by the Florida governor’s office added the following to the state’s list of “essential services”:

Employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience — including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production — only if the location is closed to the general public.

A spokesperson from governor DeSantis’ office told ESPN on Monday that the services were characterized as essential “because they are critical to Florida’s economy.”

In theory, this would mean that AEW would also now be able to run in Florida.