Florida county may have to ‘pull the plug’ on WrestleMania if WWE doesn’t
In a soundbite recorded Thursday after an emergency meeting of the county’s Emergency Policy Group, Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller said if WWE doesn’t make the call to postpone WrestleMania due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they likely will.
“I’m hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make the call themselves but a week from now, if they’ve not done that and we’re still in the situation we’re in, we’ll probably have to pull the plug on that,” he said.
In that aforementioned meeting, the committee agreed to wait a week for WWE to make a decision but weren’t as definitive as Miller’s statement after the fact.
In what has best been described as a high stakes game of chicken, WWE released a statement they are making contingency plans if the county doesn’t allow the show to go on as planned:
“While we remain committed to hosting WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, April 5, we are putting contingency plans in place in the event that it is canceled by government officials, civil authorities and/or local venues.”
WWE has already had to make changes in their schedule, moving last night’s SmackDown and Monday’s Raw to their Orlando, FL, based Performance Center and canceling their weekend house shows.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.