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Oil prices have tanked. A possible long term effect on this. Saudi Arabia is cutting government spending by 5%. A twice a year wrestling extravaganza looks far less attractive on the balance sheet.

Ideally if nothing else you try and restrict contact between anyone but the wrestlers in the match. Don't run a battle royal under any circumstances. Maybe you can get away with a tag match. But keep it limited.

Or at least yell over at commentary, "Lawler you bastard!"

I wonder if there’s a bait and switch going on regarding Wrestlemania at the performance center. Two hours in and there hasn’t been any actual physical contact. The only sensible reason to have the show at the performance center is to give them leverage in negotiations.

The Yankees had a minor league player test positive for coronavirus. Relevant because the Yankees train in Tampa.

I think WWE is absolutely waiting for the authorities to cancel for financial reasons. I can't say I blame them, it's a huge event and they've got five nights of events? But at some point common sense should intervene. Everyone knows there's not a chance in hell of this happening.

Dominos are falling today. Major League Soccer is suspending, NBA has suspended, every college conference has called off play. MLB will announce shortly it is suspending operations. I would be really surprised to see WWE continue to run events.

A week from now when the extent of cases becomes apparent I think we will have a better handle of how this outbreak will play out, what effect it has on the health care system, etc. I kind of think this decision will be made for WWE one way or another.

The start of the baseball season in Japan is postponed. I imagine that doesn't bode well for the wrestling scene in the immediate future.

Tbh, even if the show was perfect the weekday Noon ET start is a hell of a barrier for North American fans. i noted elsewhere that Goldberg’s performance may lead to a fan backlash at WrestleMania. The last two Saudi matches have really exposed him.

Wasn’t exactly impressed with Goldberg’s performance. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction though in seeing a Jewish person win a world championship in Saudi Arabia.

Could part of it have been Abby working All Japan and Vince working with New Japan?

Lane of course worked as a commentator for WWF for about two years.

Garvin had a tryout as an interviewer in 1992. He lasted one taping.

I thought that too watching Lee. I remember Bam Bam Bigelow who did all these agile moves and he never really broke through with it. Not to say Lee shouldn't do that stuff but he should be aware about putting extra stress on his joints for minimal return. I love though where Lee will block a hold by grabbing the person's wrist and powering out.

Abby is maybe the one person who NEVER wrestled a match for either of the Vinces.

You're kind of dealing with the duel problems that they have a form of tokenism along with who is the most high profile person willing to do it. I know Stacey made an appearance last year, but is she willing to go along? The Bella Twins from WWE's vantage are an easy yes.

I remember as an 11 year old sneaking peeks at ECW on tv and seeing advertisements for Ultraclash. This is something I can legitimately say I’ve been waiting 27 years to see.

That's ticket revenue, so I'm sure a healthy chunk of that is advance sales for the season.

Darren Rovell noted the XFL has already surpassed the AAF in ticket sale revenue. I tuned in for about fifteen minutes or so. I'm not a football fan but I was curious. The league came off professional. Using smaller soccer stadiums for some teams gave it better atmosphere and minimized empty seats. Honestly, if you can draw 10000-15000 a game you're not the NFL, but that's nothing to sneeze at. If they're on solid financial ground they can build from this start. The only issue they face is that the NFL can poach players at will and they will need a good system to replenish talent.

I think the closest term is "presence."

Wasn’t expecting Randy the Ram (Edge)

Main eventing obviously

I’m referring to Daniel Bryan

I doubt WWE will put the belt on someone they can’t showcase in Saudi Arabia, but I pray to god they do.