Last week, WrestlingNews.co exclusively reported that there were at least two WWE stars who had planned on sitting out the recent set of tapings and future tapings unless a mandate was issued to have the “fans” (developmental wrestlers) were masks inside of the Performance Center.
Last week, WWE sent out an email to talent and staff to announce the new mandate and anyone who does not wear a mask will be subject to a $500 fine for the first offense. The second offense would result in a $1,000 fine.
Fightful reported over the weekend that a wrestler who just returned from a hiatus voiced concerns to Vince McMahon about people in the company not taking social distancing and masks seriously.
After this wrestler went up to McMahon, the changes were put into effect. WWE has also reduced the number of people inside of the PC. Last week, there were no “friends and family” and it was noticeable that there were less developmental wrestlers playing the role of fans.
WrestlingNews.co was told that there was a lot of frustration from staff and wrestlers because the feeling was that McMahon was not taking the virus seriously. The new rules put in place helped to calm some of the concerns among the wrestlers and the two wrestlers who were going to sit out are expected back for the next set of tapings.
