Top 10 Stories Of 2020: COVID-19

Throughout December, Neal Wagner will count down the top 10 stories of 2020 as voted on by The Wrestling Estate staff. Here is No. 2: COVID-19

Every pro wrestling company handled the COVID-19 pandemic differently.

New Japan was impacted first as Japan had gone into a shutdown before North America. The company got through Wrestle Kingdom in January and would turn towards the New Beginnings tour. Little did company officials know that the Osaka shows in early February would be their last events for months. The company had just announced the brackets for the annual New Japan Cup and the main event of its Anniversary Show; however, those events were canceled. The company announced a restart for mid-June with a new version of the New Japan Cup with many talents outside of the country disqualified due to travel restrictions. The tournament ran with no fans in attendance.

Today, New Japan has many strict protocols in place, including fans not being allowed to cheer or boo. Fans must wear their masks at all times or be ejected from the show. The company is looking at running the Tokyo Dome in January for a two-night Wrestle Kingdom with half the attendance, roughly around 20,000 people each night.

WWE faced its own challenges during its traditionally most profitable time of the year. Less than two weeks after the Elimination Chamber, WWE was forced to move all events to the Performance Center in Orlando, FL. WrestleMania 36 became a two-night, taped event while NXT TakeOver and the Hall of Fame ceremony was canceled. Surprisingly, WWE continued with its regular programming in front of no fans until late August, when it moved to the Amway Center in Orlando for the WWE Thunderdome. Massive video boards were constructed around the ring and fans were encouraged to register to appear on the screens. In November, WWE announced it was relocating to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay due to the Orlando Magic getting ready for the NBA season.

WWE also dove headfirst into cinematic wrestling during the pandemic with the Boneyard Match, Firefly Funhouse Match, Money in the Bank Ladder Match, a Swamp Fight, a Backlot Brawl, The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever and a One Final Beat match that would air on NXT.

For All Elite Wrestling, the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time. Still in its first year on TNT, two huge episodes of Dynamite were scheduled for March 18 from Rochester, NY and March 25 from Newark, NJ, built around The Elite against The Inner Circle in a War Games-style Blood and Guts Match. Those shows would get cancelled and moved to the Daily’s Place Amphitheater in Jacksonville, FL for a short time before the state shut down. AEW then moved to Norcross, GA to tape several weeks of content over the course of two days in order to have matches and episodes ready in case of being shut down longer than anticipated. AEW returned to Daily’s Place in time for Double or Nothing in May and also dabbled in cinematic wrestling with the Stadium Stampede, Tooth and Nail Match and The Final Deletion.

Impact Wrestling was forced to cancel its special Lockdown show in early March, and its Rebellion pay-per-view was turned into a two-week special on AXS TV. Impact has held PPVs since, including a massive Slammiversary with several new talents that had previously been released by WWE during Black Wednesday. Impact has yet to bring fans back to its events. Impact would get into the cinematic game, too, during Bound for Glory for the Moose and EC3 match. The biggest news out of Impact this year was the release of Tessa Blanchard, the company’s world champion whose entire reign was mired in controversy.

The COVID-19 pandemic may actually have worked in Ring Of Honor’s favor. The company suffered a tremendous drop in popularity during 2019 following The Elite leaving to launch AEW. ROH looked to change course in 2020 with fresh talent, a new presentation and the return of the Pure Championship. The company’s last event was Gateway to Honor on February 29, where Rush won the ROH World Championship from PCO. The next event was supposed to be the Anniversary in March, but talent arriving in Las Vegas learned the show was canceled the day of. ROH aired the remaining television shows that had already been taped and then transitioned into personality and “best of” profiles on their wrestlers. In August, ROH would return for tapings at the UMBC Arena in Baltimore and create a bubble style atmosphere for all talent.

It seems like professional wrestling was the only thing that didn’t get taken away during the COVID-19 pandemic.