As new COVID-19 cases continue to increase nationwide, dozens of WWE employees are among the current wave of positive cases in Florida.Professional wrestling journalist Tom Colohue has reported that according to his sources, over 30 WWE employees have tested positive for the virus over the past week. As a result, with personnel less available due to the pandemic's current surge in the southern United States, WWE will rebroadcast the Boneyard Match from this year's Wrestlemania 36 during tonight's Friday Night SmackDown. Additionally, the scheduled match between A.J. Styles and Drew Gulak for the Intercontinental championship title may no longer take place.
Yesterday, June 25, Florida recorded nearly 9,000 reported new cases of COVID-19, setting a troubling new single-day record for the state as it continues to reopen its businesses. Orange County, where the WWE's Performance Center is located, is the state's worst hit county with 1,062 new cases yesterday alone.
Due to the state of Floridan's more lax quarantine conditions, the WWE moved the majority of its business operations to Orlando in April, where it has been filming WWE Raw, Smackdown and NXT shows after the pandemic spread to the United States earlier this year. With more and more personnel testing positive for the virus, the WWE issued a statement earlier this week confirming it had seen an increase in employees receiving positive test results for the virus, though it did not reveal a number.