Wrestlemania to be performed in front of no one

Due to the Coronavirus it would be irresponsible for any mass gatherings of fans at a venue. In a move that kind of boggles the mind, since the scripted Wrestlemania could certainly be delayed, WWE is deciding to go forward withe the original date of April 5th.

The popularity of a "fake sport" boggles the minds of non WWE fans but the biggest event of them all (which is Wrestlemania) manages to bring in 70,000 or more fans every year and has done so for as long as I can remember.

The announcement was made yesterday that the scheduled date will still stand, but instead of being in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa the event will be live-streamed from the WWE training facility in Orlando.

All 36 matches will be performed, including Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena, which is the match I was most looking forward to. In case you were wondering, The Undertaker is still wrestling and there were rumors that this was meant to be his retirement match vs. A.J. Styles. At 54 years of age, he is truly a legend of the sport, and certainly they will delay his retirement for a later date, if that was ever the plan at all.

Personally, I think that having the event instead of delaying it was a mistake but I am sure they have their monetary reasons for doing so. I don't really keep up with the financials but perhaps the money made on ad revenue and pay-per-views outnumber the take of the live audience. I have no idea.

There is no denying that big part of what makes wrestling so exciting for fans like me is the crowd. I have been to a couple of events that had lackluster attendance and it just seemed less exciting. Now imagine the same thing but with no fans at all. They aren't even allowing any staff other than those who are absolutely necessary.

All in all, it is going to be interesting to see how this turns out because at the moment, it is difficult to imagine WWE being as exciting without the noise of tens of thousands of fans in the mix.