More signs WrestleMania could be the last major event until this is over

WWE’s rush to film as much content as they can this week is a pretty big one. But if that wasn’t enough to make you wonder if new wrestling from major promotions - one of the last entertainments of it kind still airing on television during the coronavirus pandemic - was in short supply, here are a couple more signs.

AEW moved two more episodes of Dynamite to closed sets, postponing their already announced trips to Albuquerque and Philadelphia. These join Houston and New Orleans, and means everything on the company’s calendar up until Double Or Nothing has been affected (they hadn’t revealed the location of the May. 20 ‘go home’ for that PPV yet).

That event and a fallout show in Las Vegas are still listed for May 23 and May 27, respectively. But seeing as today’s news also included another statement that “until further notice, live episodes of Dynamite will be produced at closed set locations with essential personnel only,” it’s probably best to assume changes are coming to those, too.

Here are the impacted cities, along with when the trips have been postponed to:

Mar. 18 in Rochester - now July 8
Mar. 25 in Newark - now July 22
April 1 in Milwaukee - now Oct. 28
April 8 in St. Louis - now Oct. 7
April 15 in Boston - now Aug. 5
April 22 in Philadelphia - now July 29
April 29 in Houston - now Nov. 4
May 6 in New Orleans - now Dec. 2
May 13 in Albuquerque - now Dec. 30

Across the Pacific, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced they will not return for Sakura Genesis at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo next Tuesday (Mar. 31) as some had hoped. They’ve also cancelled the Road To Dontaku show set for Sagamihara on Sat., April 11. This despite several promotions in the country resuming working in front of live audiences, including Stardom, which like NJPW is owned by Bushiroad.

New Japan’s statement on the cancellations included:

“We deeply apologise to fans who were looking forward to these events. Ultimately, the health and safety of our fans, wrestlers and staff, as well as society at large is our utmost concern, and we will make announcements about events scheduled after April 11 upon careful monitoring of this developing situation.”

And while I was writing this, we got the news the 2020 Olympics are now official moved to next year!

It’s pretty clear COVID-19 will be causing even more changes to everyone’s plans. Even if it’s not live, WrestleMania 36 may be the last big show we see for some time.