Pro wrestling ‘essential’ under Florida governor’s order
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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Body slams and pile drives can go on in the Sunshine State.
With Florida under a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s one business deemed essential by Florida’s governor that is raising some eyebrows: pro wrestling.
Florida’s top emergency official last week amended Gov. Ron Desantis’ stay-at-home order which was issued at the start of the month. Pro sports were added to a list of essential businesses allowed to stay open in an April 9 memorandum to include “employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience ... only if the location is closed to the general public.”
The amendment allows World Wrestling Entertainment, run by CEO Vince Mcmahon in metro Orlando, to continue putting on shows — without fans.
Desantis said at a news conference Tuesday that people are “champing at the bit” for new entertainment to boost morale while house-bound. He also would like to see other sporting events, maybe NASCAR races without an audience or a redo of the Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson golf match.
“If you think about it, we’ve never had a period like this in modern American history where you’ve had such little new content, particularly in the sporting realm,” the governor said.
A WWE employee tested positive for the coronavirus in the days after the company recorded shows at the WWE Performance Center, and the unnamed employee’s roommate also was showing symptoms, but the company deems the matter “low risk” to wrestlers and staff, the
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