WWE is back with their weekly shows in a live format starting from this week. The good part in the changed circumstance is that Florida officials are behind them as well as WWE could film Raw, Smackdown and NXT without a delayed taped format.
During a press conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings revealed that Florida Governor Rick Desantis has deemed WWE as an ‘essential business’.
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“I think initially there was — a review that was done and they were not initially deemed as an essential business.
With some conversation with the governor’s office regarding the governor’s order, they were deemed an essential business. And so, therefore, they were allowed to remain open.”
Meanwhile, WWE has received a special shoutout from President Donald Trump himself for their contributions to sports entertainment.
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While appearing for coronavirus briefing at the White House, US President Donald Trump mentioned WWE CEO Vince McMahon in his speech. Below is what the POTUS had to offer:
“In sports, we want to get our sports back, so important. These will be some separate calls, some will be together, by the way, and some will be separate. But we have to get our sports back. I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old, but I haven’t actually had too much time to watch. I would say maybe I watch one batter and then I get back to work.
The NBA – Adam Silver, the Major League Baseball – we miss our baseball players and this is baseball season right here. Rob Manfred, thank you very much. NFL – Roger Goodell, thank you Roger. UFC – Dana White, great Dana White. PGA – Jay Monahan, LPGA – Michael Whan, USDA – Patrick Galbraith, Major League Soccer – Don Garber, WWE – the great Vince McMahon, NASCAR – Lesa Kennedy, thank you Lisa. NHL – Gary Bettman. From the New England Patriots – Bob Kraft, from the Dallas Cowboys – Jerry Jones, Dallas Mavericks – Mark Cuban.”
WWE’s Vince McMahon and Donald Trump as a previous billionaire had some serious business relationships. While Trump made several appearances on WWE programming to become a Hall of Famer, he also allowed McMahon to host two different Wrestlemania events at the Trump Plaza in Mississippi. We have also witnessed a ‘battle for billionaire’ in one of them.
NEW: @OrangeCoSheriff tells @StephanieCNews and I it was called several times to the #WWE PC in the last few weeks, and told the company it was not in compliance with the existing Executive Order and had to close down. April 9th's EO changed that.https://t.co/UBlu7ZDWaU
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) April 14, 2020
NEW: @OrangeCoSheriff tells @StephanieCNews and I it was called several times to the #WWE PC in the last few weeks, and told the company it was not in compliance with the existing Executive Order and had to close down. April 9th's EO changed that.https://t.co/UBlu7ZDWaU
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) April 14, 2020
In an update to this, Stephanie Coueignoux and Jon Alba published a report on how $18.5 million could have played a role in WWE being deemed an essential business.
The following sequences of events were mentioned to indicate that politics could have played a big role in bringing back WWE live shows, this week.
Could politics be in play for @WWE to be deemed essential personnel? We have asked @GovRonDeSantis office about this. @Linda_McMahon is wife of @WWE CEO @VinceMcMahon. She served on @POTUS Cabinet & now runs Pro-Trump Superpac “America F1rst Action”. @WWE live tv is in Orlando. pic.twitter.com/7VZTxgLCW6
— Stephanie Coueignoux (@StephanieCNews) April 14, 2020
– April 1st: Florida Governer Ron DeSantis issues an executive order for essential services. This was after speaking to Donald Trump.
– April 9th: DeSantis altered the order to include professional sporting events and media productions.
– April 9th: Linda McMahon announced that her Presidential Super PAC will spend $18.5 million in Tampa and Orlando, Florida.
– April 10th: Reports broke of Vince McMahon deciding to go live.
