As noted before, WWE recently had another COVID-19 outbreak at the WWE Performance Center primarily affecting those within the NXT brand and Performance Center recruits.
Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE’s recent outbreak led to several creative changes being made for this past Wednesday’s episode of NXT, which included the lack of a crowd for the show.
Meltzer reported that one of the plans affected involved a tag team match that featured Danny Burch & Roderick Strong vs. Raul Mendoza & Fabian Aichner. This match reportedly was originally meant to set up a future tag team match between the Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Strong) and Burch & Oney Lorcan but it’s unclear if the match will still be taking place as a result of the recent outbreak and Fish’s absence from the show, though there’s no confirmation that Fish has tested positive.
Meltzer also reported that the number of positive test results from this recent outbreak is currently believed to be lower than WWE’s previous outbreak, which was around 38 talent and staff, but the number itself “is not small.”
The recent outbreak reportedly has also impacted WWE’s main roster and could result in creative plans being changed for the upcoming episodes of RAW and SmackDown.
PWInsider is also reporting that Performance Center training has been paused because of the outbreak.
The belief is that the outbreak stemmed from a party that NXT wrestlers recently threw, PWInsider says.
PWInsider also reported that NXT wrestlers and trainees have also been temporarily banned from appearing on Raw and SmackDown because of the outbreak, but there’s a fear among some that some NXT trainees who played RETRIBUTION members on Monday’s Raw may have possibly spread the disease, though there’s no indication yet that their fears came true.
WWE released this statement to media:
As part of ongoing testing protocols, WWE completed its second round of weekly COVID-19 testing on Tuesday. Individuals that tested positive will quarantine for 14 days, receive medical care, and then will only be cleared when they are symptom-free and test negative. Additionally, extensive contact tracing has taken place and other individuals have been placed in 14-day quarantine, and will then only be cleared after they test negative.