Covid-19 pandemic was indeed one of the worst time periods that the whole world saw in the recent times. From home quarantines to unwanted deaths, it shook the whole world with everything worse. Professional sports including wrestling was also hit by this time period. Fans still believe it was the worst time to be a sports fan.
WWE was almost unwatchable during the time, and that is because of one thing; zero crowd. This time period taught everyone how much important the fans are for wrestling. WrestleMania 36 which was a zero audience show was almost unwatchable due to this reason.
WWE Hall of Famer Claims Vince McMahon Saved WWE During the Pandemic
Surviving the covid-19 pandemic was really difficult. But WWE managed to keep themselves pretty much alive and wrestlers like Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, and Randy Orton did an amazing job to save the promotion. WWE Hall of Famer JBL believes Vince McMahon did an amazing job to save WWE during covid. Speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, he said;
“During COVID, Vince called me and he said, ‘I need an old voice on television. Are you coming?’ ‘You know I am.’ I said, ‘Where are you?’ He goes, ‘We’re in Orlando. We got no audience. I need an old voice, the old commentary, somebody that people recognize,'” said the former World Champion.
Vince McMahon remained the boss of WWE for over 40 years
“There was nobody in the airport… Everybody was sitting up front, first class. I said, ‘I think I’m gonna sit in the back’, like 15 seats on both sides of you because you didn’t know what was going to happen back then. You didn’t know if the whole world is going to die or you’re going to get it and die.”
Vince McMahon announced his retirement in 2022
“I can tell you, almost everybody in the company was against Vince running. Everybody was against it. All the press was against it. Everything, it was, ‘This is horrible. How dare he do this?’ [McMahon] said,’ If I don’t, I will lose all my TV contracts.’ Those TV contracts of live events became worth exponentially more.”
“You thought they’re gonna be worth exponentially less, is what you thought during COVID, because we didn’t know if the world was ending or not. Everybody wanted out of those TV contracts. But because he did that, he got these billion-dollar TV contracts out of it. He saved the freaking company with that.” Added JBL.
WWE’s product was highly affected by this time period as well. Vince McMahon relied on Roman Reigns a bit too much after covid and the rest of the roster had to suffer a lot because of Vince’s obsession with Roman Reigns post covid. It cannot be said if Vince should alone be credited for WWE’s covid survival, but he did play a vital role.
H/T - WrestleZone
