WWE And AEW Possibly Impacted As Florida Issues Stay-At-Home Order

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state as they try and slow the coronavirus outbreak.

The order goes into effect Thursday at midnight and will last for at least 30 days.

The stay-at-home order was issued after weeks of resistance. DeSantis, who faced criticism for refusing to implement statewide guidelines as beach-goers and students on spring break continued to gather in large groups, said it makes sense to put the order in place now. This comes after President Trump announced this week that his administration is extending its social distancing guidelines for another 30 days due to the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

It will be interesting to see how this order impacts WWE and AEW, who have been significantly impacted by the pandemic for weeks now.

As noted on Tuesday at this link, WWE has apparently canceled all events for the month of April and word is that they plan to continue using the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL as their closed-set location for TV and pay-per-view tapings. WWE took a major hit to their operations when WrestleMania 36 was canceled last month. The big event was moved from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, to the empty WWE Performance Center, and all related WrestleMania 36 Week happenings were also nixed. WrestleMania was taped ahead of time last week, and will air across two nights this weekend. It's been reported that WWE planned to continue taping at the Performance Center for most shows, and at Full Sail University for WWE NXT.

We also noted on Tuesday at this link how AEW had moved their Dark and Dynamite tapings to an undisclosed location in the Southeast part of the country. They had postponed all arena tapings and moved to Daily's Place in Jacksonville, FL, which is their home base. A parking lot next to Daily's Place is being used by the state as a COVID-19 testing area, and that reportedly played a factor in moving the tapings once again, among other issues.

Florida has nearly 7,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 87 deaths, according to the state health department.

Stay tuned for updates on the stay-at-home order and how the pandemic will continue to impact WWE and AEW operations.