WWE NXT Reportedly Returns To Full Sail University Early, Note On Post-WrestleMania 36 Tapings
As noted, this week's WWE NXT episode for the USA Network was to be taped on Sunday due to schedule changes related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sunday's NXT tapings were held at the NXT Arena (Full Sail Live) at Full Sail University, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. It was noted that this week's NXT episode will be more of a wrestling-oriented show than last week's episode, which featured new interview segments with NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, Tommaso Ciampa, and Johnny Gargano.
It's very interesting that WWE was allowed to shoot at Full Sail this weekend as the school announced back on March 13 that they were suspending all classes and labs for students, and suspending group events on campus through the end of April, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This ban on events is why the "modified format" edition of NXT was held at the WWE Performance Center last week.
WWE has announced that WrestleMania 36 will air from "multiple locations" on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, with no crowds. It will be interesting to see if Full Sail is one of those locations.
On a related note, it was reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that it will be a while before WWE brings the wrestlers back for more tapings after this week. WWE reportedly taped two weeks of SmackDown and 205 Live on Friday, then taped NXT on Sunday, and will focus on taping a few weeks worth of RAW today and tomorrow. The reported plan is to then tape WrestleMania 36 on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. With WWE not planning to bring the wrestlers back for a while after this week's tapings, that indicates they won't be taping the TV shows for the week after the post-WrestleMania episodes for a while. That would be the TV episodes for the week of April 13.
Courtesy of a fan on Twitter, below are shots of the WWE production trucks parked at Full Sail this weekend:
These are the 2 best pics o/the WWE trucks @ Full Sail my girlfriend was kind enough to snap on her way back from a grocery trip just now. Clearly more than 5-6. So curious to see what they're creating, and if it lines up with any of the ideas we've been kicking around on our end pic.twitter.com/xEtyFz0FSY
? Tom Stoup (@TomStoup) March 22, 2020
Stay tuned for more updates on this week's WWE TV tapings.