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Latest Update: 6:05 PM EST
World Wrestling Entertainment is facing a series of positive test results for COVID-19, PWInsider.com can confirm.
On Monday, WWE began emailing talents and staff, advising them that there had been a new COVID-19 positive test result, advising them to again get tested for COVID-19. We are told that not all talents were contacted at the same time. We have since heard that there have been multiple positives coming out of the new round of tests.
One source believed the positives to be in the "two dozen range" but PWInsider.com has not yet been able to vet that is accurate beyond confirming that there are multiple positives. The positives are said to be across the board - talents, production and staff.
What this means for Friday's scheduled Smackdown taping remains to be seen. The promotion informed talents that anyone working the taping take a nose swab before the tapings. Talents have been asked to isolate following their latest COVID-19 tests prior to tomorrow's taping and have also been requested to let the company know if they are planning to travel outside of their local areas beyond for WWE work.
We are told Friday's Smackdown episode would likely need to be re-written in the wake of the positives.
It should also be noted that WWE had "friends and family" at their last two TV tapings, the second of which was pushed back a day after a positive COVID-19 test came back for a WWE NXT developmental talent who was last at the PC on 6/9. PWInsider.com is told that if Friday's taping moves forward, there will not be "friends and family" invited.
PWInsider.com reported on 6/16, in the wake of the first COVID-19 positive: "Adding to the worry was the extremely unfortunate timing of the inclusion of fans (or, as WWE described them in their statement earlier today, "friends and family") at yesterday's TV taping. While those friends and family attending yesterday had their temperatures checked and signed waivers, there was a concern voiced by some today that unlike WWE staff and wrestlers who come into the building, WWE's medical personnel have no true way to know or trace who those "friends and family" attending the show had been around in the time leading up to yesterday's taping and if they came back again for another taping, what they had been exposed to in between attending tapings."
At the time, numerous WWE talents expressed concern to PWInsider.com over the lack of communication from the company, feeling there should have been more care expressed towards those traveling and working for WWE in the pandemic. Today, many of the same talents as well as others expressed the same concerns, especially in the wake of the realization that they could have or did bring the COVID-19 virus home with them to their family members.
Florida, where WWE's Performance Center is located, has become the latest massive hotspot for spread of the disease. The Florida Department of Health reported 3,286 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday, bringing the State's total to 103,503 confirmed cases. Within the past two weeks, 132 Orlando Airport employees have tested positive as well. WWE employees and wrestlers would be flying in and out of their airport for WWE TV tapings if they were not Florida-based.
PWInsider.com has reached out to WWE for comment but they have not yet responded.
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet was the first to report the positives. PWInsider.com has confirmed that story independently with multiple sources.
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