WWE announcer, backstage interviewer and former host of WWE Backstage on FS1, Renee Young took to social media and shared that she has contracted Coronavirus. Renee noted that her show, WWE Backstage has been cancelled and on top of that, she has COVID-19.
Man. What a few days. My show gets cancelled and I get Covid. Wear your masks and wash your hands. Stay safe, everyone ❤️
Earlier in the day on June 24th, AEW President Tony Khan tweeted out that AEW World Champion Jon Moxley was going to be removed from the Dynamite lineup because he had second-hand contact with someone that has Coronavirus. Moxley was not flown in to Florida and he was replaced in the segment by Brian Cage, who he’s scheduled to defend the AEW World Title against at Fyter Fest on July 8th.
POST Wrestling was informed by one source that talent and crew were informed on Tuesday night that they would have to arrive early this week as testing will be conducted prior to the tapings taking place Friday and Saturday. A second person we spoke with noted they were tested today (Wednesday) with testing taking place on Thursday, as well.
With the crossover between AEW and WWE with Young and Moxley, I’m curious how this has effected AEW.
Biggest mistake WWE made IMO was following AEW’s lead and having “fans”. Should have kept it a small closed set and done multiple taping at once.
This can’t be a coincidence that Renee Young is the first WWE employee to admit to having COVID-19 and John Moxley being pulled from tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
I’m starting to think more WWE employees are infected than we thought and we only know about this one because of her husband’s responsibilities to AEW.
She wasnt the first, last week one of the trainees was the first. They just didn’t announce a name.
Not saying that this isn’t the reason why they announced it.
Hey, remember when The Street Prophets danced in the mask-less crowd, consistent of development talent and friends of the wrestlers, some of which on the elderly side? And not one of those people - talent or guests/fans - were actually tested aside from a high temperature test and a honest scout’s word (aside from FIRING people to maximize profits).
AEW is not safe either and I do expect them to be hit too, but for what I see they take this situation way more serious than WWE/Vince ever did.
Bottom line is - both companies should back down from the live tapings and resume putting stuff in the can, cause as we can see - this thing just waits for an opportunity to start spread like wildfire.
Oh also, all the empathy I’ve seen for the performers & crew that have contracted Covid-19 has overwhelmed me so I also just want to add i wish them all good health & a full recovery.
I’m so glad we’re also focusing on compassion for the human beings rather than just shitting on the companies they work for!
Look, I 100% agree that not testing when you are a company the size of the WWE was a mistake.That is 100% on WWE.
With that said, testing doesn’t guarantee that you don’t have an outbreak. Both WWE and AEW have been careless with the way they have handled things in the post pandemic world. They should both be using limited talents, and doing bulk shooting. Having these “crowds” was a dumb idea from the start. Does it make for better TV? Sure. Is it safe to have that many people in the building? No.
The other main issue is that I see no reason why you cant shoots months of TV over a multiple day span, and then send everybody home in a safe manner.
Not wearing masks is stupid as well, I dont disagree. Both these companies need to wake up.
I dont think that whats in a thread on a message board is a reflection of that.
I can’t speak for others, but I did tweet at Renae Young that I hope she has a fast recovery. IMO, messaging someone directly is more meaningful then posting on a message board they will never see.
Tonight Meltzer filled in some more information. It appears there were a number of positives at the WWE performance center, though exact numbers were not given.
Also, Meltzer mentioned that Renee was ill enough to feel quick sick and went and got tested herself, which is how she found out she was positive.
I’ll bet some AEW fan boy/girl is already posting on the internet or Twitter that this is a conspiracy and was a deliberate move by WWE to force Moxley off Dynamite to give NXT a better chance at breaking their ratings loss run.
People catching it really isn’t news. Most people have probably gotten it and gotten through it without much hassle. Just have to avoid old people or people that have some sort of condition for a couple of weeks. Not ideal but not a death sentence.
And don’t you think that the negligence they’ve shown for months and not doing a single test till this thing actually broke last week is a huge story?
Unlikely she has had it twice as there are scant reports of this and the consensus is a false positive test is the reason (either the first or second one) given the lack of quality testing.