WWE deemed an ‘essential business’ by governor of Florida

Photo by Alexandra Wyman/WireImage

WWE can go ahead with filming live events at their Performance Center after oddly being named an “essential business” by the governor of Florida.

Sometimes as a “journalist”, you get to write articles that you’re excited about. Sometimes they’re dull, but necessary. And then there’s times like this, when you just can’t fathom how what you’re writing about is actually a real thing.

Well, this is indeed a real thing. Professional wrestling, or the WWE version of it at least, as been deemed as an “essential business” by the governor of Florida.

Earlier today, the mayor of Orange County, Florida (where the WWE’s Performance Institute is located) gave a coronavirus update, and said that the pro wrestling organization wasn’t originally deemed as essential. But a talk with governor Ron DeSantis changed that:

“I think initially there was a review that was done and they were not initially deemed an essential business. With some conversation with the governor’s office regarding the governor’s order, they were deemed an essential business. Therefore, they were allowed to remain open.”

He also spoke about WWE having a positive COVID-19 case under their umbrella, and made some assumptions rather than stating many actual facts:

“In terms of the specifics associated with the wrestler personality who tested positive — I don’t know any of the details of that obviously because of HIPAA laws, etc. I don’t know that. But you know that’s like a little family, with a small family of professional athletes that wrestle. If one of my family members tested positive in my house, that would be concerning to me. We would have to make some provisions in my house to make sure that the rest of us do not get infected. I would assume that from a business perspective, the WWE is doing that type of analysis of its own family.”

How WWE was deemed as essential is still up for debate, but it could be political in nature. Vince and Linda McMahon have relationships with American president Donald Trump, as does governor DeSantis. And this just happened to come out around the same time as the announcement (via wrestling reporter David Bixenspan):

The Trump reelection PAC that LInda McMahon runs has committed to spending $18.5 million in Florida this year. https://t.co/SDTBSeQ2GF

— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) April 13, 2020

Could it just be a coincidence? Absolutely. But you can draw your own conclusions on that.

WWE is resuming their filming of live television today, and will air all three of their weekly TV shows live going forward.