WWE boss Vince McMahon's long history of putting employees in harm's way as filming begins amid pandemic
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will resume filming live television matches starting Monday, April 13, after it was declared an "essential business" by the Florida governor's office.
The matches for "Monday Night Raw," as well as "SmackDown," will be taped at WWE's training facility in Orlando, Florida, and its developmental program, 'NXT,' will air from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
For the past several weeks, the company had been airing pre-taped matches, including its flagship event WrestleMania, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It looked set to go on for the foreseeable future due to Florida governor Ron DeSantis' stay-at-home order for the state, scheduled to run through April 30 which allows only for supermarkets, clinics, banks, pharmacies and other daily necessities to remain open.
However, during a press conference, Orange County, Florida, mayor Jerry Demings revealed that, while WWE was initially deemed unessential, the classification was reversed after discussions with DeSantis.
"We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times," WWE said in a statement. "We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff. As a brand that has been woven into the fabric of society, WWE and its Superstars bring families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination, and perseverance."
WWE also insisted that only essential personnel would be allowed at the venue and no fans would be allowed in attendance, though the news is still concerning due to a recent report that the company had its first case of the novel coronavirus.
The employee was not a member of its main roster, and was an on-screen talent. The company, however, said they thought the "matter is low risk" because the individual had been exposed to the virus after its production on a closed set was already complete.
They said the employee had no contact with anyone from WWE since being exposed and had since "made a complete recovery."
But those who have followed the company since its divisive chairman and CEO Vince McMahon took over the company from his father in 1982 will have every reason to doubt the authenticity of their assurances. After all, it would by no means be the first time he has put his employees in the way of harm or not cared about their well-being.
Take, for example, the fact that the wrestlers in WWE are technically not his employees, something John Oliver covered extensively in one of his episodes of Last Week Tonight. Despite signing exclusive contracts, they're considered to be "independent contractors" whose work conditions are pretty horrific despite the glam and fame.
A study by FiveThirtyEight comparing project lifespans for average men, NFL players, and WWE wrestlers found that their death rate line on the graph was incredibly high. Despite this, they are not given adequate healthcare or compensations for the long-term consequences of the sport, which often involves them going through tables, taking chair shots, and much, much more.
They also have no off-season, which means they're working throughout the year and are made to sign some "astonishing clauses," including giving the company a right to terminate a contract if a wrestler is sidelined by an injury for as little as six weeks, and waiving the league’s responsibility for injury or death even if it’s "caused by the negligence of promoter."
The last one may have been written following a tragedy at one of its pay-per-view events in 1991. Owen Hart, the brother of WWE legend Bret Hart, was set to make a superhero-like ring entrance that would have seen him descend from the arena rafters into the ring as part of a gimmick.
However, he was released prematurely when the harness line malfunctioned and he fell more than 78 feet into the ring and died. Despite his death, the show continued as usual, a move that was later heavily criticized.
If that wasn't enough to see McMahon put a halt to proceedings, the coronavirus most certainly won't either, especially when there are billions on the line for him in terms of a TV deal. One could say there isn't any length that he will not go to ensure that the show goes on, a claim that isn't too far-fetched when you consider he was accused of covering up an alleged pedophilia ring within the company.
'Titan Sinking: The Decline of the WWF,' a 1995 book, said then announcers Mel Phillips and Terry Garvin had exploited young ring boys and promised them more lucrative positions as opening act wrestlers in exchange for sexual favors.
A Wrestling Inc report went on to describe Phillips as a "pedophile who frequently took advantage of underage males he supervised setting up rings at live events, who came from broken homes and troubled backgrounds."
Both Phillips and Garvin were ultimately fired, but the details of their wrongdoings was suppressed until Tom Cole, who worked for the WWF as a ring attendant in the 80s and 90s while he was underage through young adulthood, went public with the claims in 1992.
Or consider how, following the death of wrestler Ashley Massaro, her attorney published some astonishing details from her lawsuit against WWE.
It said that Massaro had been drugged and sexually abused by an unknown soldier during a WWE trip to visit the troops in Kuwait, and that, when McMahon found out, he allegedly told her to keep the incident confidential because it would "ruin the relationship between the WWE and the US Military."
Those allegations were quickly rebuffed, but when are they not? If history is any indicator, WWE going back to live-taping may not seem as straightforward as "providing people with a diversion" as it is being made out to be.