Former WWE star Rusev announced on Twitch today that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
“I am absolutely positive for COVID-19,” he said on a livestream today. “I am absolutely, 100 percent, super mega incredibly positive.”
He later posted a video on YouTube, saying he felt fine aside from losing his sense of taste and smell, a symptom of COVID-19.
Rusev, real name Miroslav Barnyashev, told his viewers that he had originally thought he had tested negative. However, a phone call from the doctor’s office confirmed that he had tested positive.
The news comes as his wife, WWE star Lana (CJ Perry), wrote on social media that both her mother and father have been battling the virus in recent weeks. In a new YouTube video, Lana said that her mother was taken off oxygen and was breathing on her own and is now out of the ICU. Her father is also recovering.
Rusev was released from WWE in April as a part of wide ranging cuts and furloughs within the company. His no-compete clause is scheduled to end later this month.
COVID-19 and its effect on UFC and pro wrestling continued to dominate the news this past week.
WWE is recovering from an outbreak that caused changes to the taping schedule, a number of rewrites to television and numerous big names taken off this past two weeks of television.
Two of UFC’s biggest fights this coming week had to be canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests of Gilbert Burns, who was scheduled to face Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title on 7/11, and Pedro Munhoz, who was scheduled to face Frankie Edgar on 7/15. In all there were five positive tests of fighters on the first two shows in Abu Dhabi.
UFC was able to put together a last minute deal with Jorge Masvidal to replace Burns, a fight that will have significantly more appeal. However, they at this point don’t have an opponent for Edgar in what was the semifinal fight on 7/15, in what was scheduled to be his bantamweight debut.
The effects of the recent late June COVID-19 outbreak in WWE continue to be felt as a Monday report indicated more WWE workers have tested positive.
Pro Wrestling Sheet cited sources that said during before last week’s most recent round of TV tapings, “additional people in WWE” tested positive. The PWS report said 30 total people have tested positive over the last three weeks, but we have heard that number might be closer to 40 as of a week ago.
After the recent outbreak, WWE decided to start administering COVID-19 tests and have done approximately 1500 according to the report. They will continue to do the testing for the foreseeable future. They also instituted a mask policy on Friday for everyone in the Performance Center that isn’t on camera with non-compliance resulting in fines.
Only a handful of personnel have come forward that they tested positive including Renee Young, Kayla Braxton, Adam Pearce, and Jamie Noble.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported Friday that WWE is instituting a mask policy with fines attached for those not in compliance, effective immediately.
The report, also confirmed by our Dave Meltzer, said that any roster member or staffer working the TV tapings must wear a protective mask at all times unless they are on camera. Those that are caught in non-compliance can get a $500 fine for the first offense and a $1000 for a second offense.
WWE recently had both in-ring talents and staffers who contracted COVID-19, prompting calls for policy changes including testing and requirements for wearing masks. Shortly thereafter, the company announced they would be testing for the virus at all tapings “for the foreseeable future.”
While a full list of those who tested positive was never released, Renee Young, Adam Pearce, Jamie Noble and Kayla Braxton were among those who admitted publicly they were among those who had.
WWE is going to keep taping at the Orlando, Florida, based Performance Center through late-August according to reports Friday.
After a COVID-19 outbreak that has greatly affected the promotion, WWE has made a number of changes.
The biggest change was in the schedule. WWE had planned to tape two weeks worth of Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and 205 Live on 6/26 and 6/27.
However, with the outbreak and a large number of talent unavailable, the decision was only to tape the necessary shows for this week. Smackdown was cut back to about an hour of new content with numerous stars missing, with the show built around a tribute to The Undertaker, which, through airing The Undertaker vs. A.J. Styles boneyard match at WrestleMania, did its best numbers in months.
Advertised segments including an A.J. Styles vs. Drew Gulak IC title match and a Sheamus toast to Jeff Hardy were pulled from the show when Styles, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus weren’t there. The latter was being advertised for the 7/3 Smackdown show that was being taped on 7/2.
Fight for the Fallen will take place in two weeks, with Jox Moxley defending the AEW World title against Brian Cage.
AEW announced the event and match tonight on Dynamite. It will take place on July 15 on TNT. Originally, Jon Moxley was set to defend the title against Cage on the second night of Fyter Fest, which is being taped tonight to air next week.
Moxley has not been on television since his wife, WWE announcer Renee Young, tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Moxley opted to stay home prior to last week’s Dynamite as a precaution.
Taz and Brian Cage came out after the announcement, with Taz saying that he wasn’t upset the match has been moved back, and that Cage would take the title from Moxley’s “dumb ass” at Fight for the Fallen.
The second night of Fyter Fest will have Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy, Lance Archer vs. Joey Janela, Colt Cabana & The Dark Order vs. SCU, FTR & The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & The Blade and Lucha Brothers in an eight man tag team match, Nyla Rose vs. an unnamed opponent, and Private Party vs. Hangman Page & Kenny Omega.
The worst week in the pro wrestling industry since 2007 is looked back on in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We go through name after name, case after case, the culture, the situations, suggestions on changes and a history dating back to the 30s of women in wrestling’s plight. We look at Joey Ryan, the WWE talent, people fired from every company, companies restructuring, attorney letters, Jim Cornette, Sammy Guevara, Travis Banks, Marty Scurll, the U.K. culture, the legal aspect, the ugliness from the fan base, David Lagana, Michael Elgin, death of CHIKARA, and pretty much the only mainstream place that will touch the story.
We also look at the COVID outbreak in WWE. We look at how it happened, why AEW is at risk, the new taping schedule, the plans to return to shows with fans quicker than you think, how the AEW decision making went, how WWE is getting around the travel ban, the Orlando, the mask ordinance, and much more.
The new issue also covers:
The ending of WWE Backstage, the Tuesday night block and more.
Update on the New Japan Cup tournament with this coming week’s shows.
What was supposed to be a big deal and ended up going nowhere due to COVID, the Tessa Blanchard Impact title win. We talk about the ending, and why it happened the way it did.
Possible end of Undertaker’s career, where wrestling stood this past week in sports ratings, WWE gets new overseas deal, most-watched shows on WWE Network and WWE’s current worth.
This week’s UFC show that featured a guy with a destroyed knee winning one of he best fights of the year.
Next two weeks of Wednesday night wrestling.
Update on Extreme rules.
Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
One of the most talked about episodes that we’ve done in a long time is the weekend show we did with Garrett Gonzalez and Andreas Hale that is up on the site right now. Also, the current issue has been one of the most highly-praised we’ve done, particularly the two lead stories.
Last night’s UFC show was very strong. The Dustin Poirier vs Dan Hooker fight has been generally considered top three for this year’s fight of the year along with Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Shane Burgos vs. Josh Emmett. Other fights you should go out of your way to see were Sean Woodson vs. Julian Erosa, Brandan Allen vs. Kyle Daukaus and Mike Perry vs. Mickey Gall. Plus the TakashiSato vs. Jason Witt fight is devastating.
The scorecards for the Poirier vs. Hooker fight saw all three judges give Hooker the first two rounds and Poirier the last three, which is what I would have done as well. There were no complaints as 100 percent of the media scores were for Poirier. Judge Eric Colon’s 48-46 score was based on giving Poirier a 10-8 round four.
We are saddened to report the death of Vida Gail James, who has been married to Bob Armstrong since 1960 and is the mother of Brian, Brad, Steve and Scott Armstrong. Brian & Scott noted that they were thankful that Bob was able to be at her side at the end.
On Google search charts for the past week, Dustin Poirier was the No. 5 most searched term in the U.S. yesterday with more than 100,000. Mike Perry was no. 10 with 100,000. On Friday, Dave Bautista was No. 16 with 50,000 for the Love Walk in Tampa that he and Titus O’Neil spearheaded. The Rock was No. 20 on Thursday with 50,000 because he’s The Rock. And the dubious distinction of the most searched for name over the past week in pro wrestling, boxing or MMA is Sammy Guevara with 200,000 on Monday. Guevara is the only name from any Speaking Out stories that got any traction at all mainstream, and the WWE’s COVID breakout also got nothing.
Renee Young is doing much better. She also tweeted that she will make an announcement on Wednesday.
WWE
The original plans to tape the entire month of NXT over Wednesday and Thursday has been changed. Both episodes of the Great American Bash for 7/1 and 7/8 will be taped Wednesday. They will tape two weeks of Smackdown on Thursday and two weeks of Raw on Friday. And that is obviously all subject to change because there were multiple changes this past week.
An amazing interview with EVP John Brody explaining why WWE is still running, especially when invoking the name of Ric Flair in talking about safety measures.
Scheduled for Raw are contract signings for Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre and Asuka vs Sasha Banks. At least a few talents were not at the tapings for COVID related reasons.
UFC
Dana White wasn’t at the show last night because he took matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard on a vacation to Cabo after all their work in putting the last several weeks of shows together. After he gets back, White will head to Yas Island for several weeks. There are no UFC shows until 7/11, the next PPV show.
Dustin Poirier was given the first Forrest Griffin Community Award for all of his work in establishing The Good Fight Foundation in Lafayette, LA. This year they have donated more than 1,000 meals to frontline healthcare workers at local hospitals and clinics. Last night they donated meals to hundreds of people in the city at a burger restaurant where they all watched last night’s show together.
Regarding a talk a few days ago on the radio show about the Crush Gals in WWF, they did three matches. On March 8, 1986, at the Boston Gardens,they beat Judy Martin & Donna Christantello.On March 11, 1986 in Poughkeepsie in a dark match, they beat Black Venus & Leilani Kai. And on March 16, 1986, in Madison Square Garden, they beat Kai & Penny Mitchell. Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano also teamed up that week in WWF rings for Matsumoto’s only WWF matches. In Boston, they lost to Dawn Marie (not the same Dawn Marie who was in WWE in the 00s and came from ECW) & Velvet McIntyre. In MSG they beat McIntyre & Linda Gonzalez. (thanks to Paul Sosnowski)
The New Japan Cup continues on Wednesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with Taichi vs. Kota Ibushi, Sanada vs. Sho, Yoshi-Hashi vs. Bushi and Evil vs. Hirooki Goto.
The Dave Bautista movie “My Spy” was released on Amazon Prime on Friday.
Bret Hart is launching a 35 episode online series on his web site priced at $1 per episode called “Confessions of the Hitman”, with Hart discussing different aspects of his life and career. There is a preview on his Instagram account.
PCW in Melbourne, Australia was scheduled to have its first show back last night but it was moved to 7/25 because Melbourne had a spike in cases and new restrictions have ben put in.
Alex Cuevas has been dropped by Singapore Pro Wrestling and Philippine Wrestling Revolution after multiple claims.
The movie 350 Day that Evan Ginzberg did is now free on Amazon Prime, Tubi and Roku.
Steve Ogilvie in New Zealand is selling (on behalf) several original Ali vs Inoki items including posters & magazines from Japan & the UK. He can be reached at [email protected]
A story on a play about the life of Ivan Koloff. (thanks to Lee Wall)
After news that multiple people in WWE tested positive for COVID-19, Friday’s SmackDown on Fox was taped at the Performance Center earlier in the day and to make up for limited talent available, they did a tribute to the Undertaker and replayed a version of the boneyard match edited for television.
On Saturday’s Wrestling Observer Live, we talk about the Undertaker’s legacy and his greatest matches.
Before that, we discuss reasons why WWE seemingly has a certain attitude when it comes to talent and testing for COVID-19 with a quote from a book that might sum it up. One of those recent WWE talents that contracted the virus is Renee Young, an incredibly talented broadcaster and one of the best in-studio hosts I have ever seen.
Plus, we discuss the Swamp Fight announced on SmackDown and what I would do each year with the Bray Wyatt character.
Jamie Noble has announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Noble, currently a producer for the WWE, announced his diagnosis on Instagram (private), writing: “Not how we expect this month to go! Covid-19 has hit home. Prayers for me and my family will be greatly appreciated!”
The news comes as a number of WWE on-air talent and producers have tested positive for the virus. Renee Young, Adam Pearce, and Kayla Braxton have all announced publicly that they have tested positive. Braxton has said that this is the second time she has tested positive, first having it in March.
A developmental talent tested positive for COVID-19 at the last set of WWE tapings, delaying them for a day. New tests taken that week indicated that a number of WWE in-ring talent, employees and producers tested positive.
In a statement, WWE has said that they “will continue COVID-19 testing of its talent, production crew and employees in advance of TV productions for the foreseeable future.”
Following the Wednesday revelation that mutliple WWE in-ring talents and other personnel tested positive for COVID-19, Adam Pearce and Kayla Braxton both tweeted Thursday they were among that group.
Pearce tweeted “Covid was NOT on my birthday list” along with a gif. The 41-year-old (pictured above) is a former wrestler and has been with WWE in several backstage roles since 2013. He is currently a producer for both Raw and SmackDown.
Around the same time, Braxton tweeted, “Was keeping it quiet but since everyone else is sharing, I feel like it is my responsibility to share this PSA: YOU CAN GET COVID-19 MORE THAN ONCE! I had it back in early March and then thought I was invincible after I recovered. Not true. Dont be dumb like me.” In a reply, Braxton also confirmed she did have COVID-19 once before. The 27-year-old is a backstage interviewer for SmackDown and a host on WWE’s The Bump.
Renee Young announced tonight that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Young wrote the following on Twitter: “Man. What a few days. My show gets cancelled and I get Covid. Wear your masks and wash your hands. Stay safe, everyone.”
Young had been part of last week’s WWE tapings, taking part in AJ Styles’ Intercontinental title presentation segment that aired on last Friday’s SmackDown.
The news comes as it was reported this afternoon that multiple people within WWE, including in-ring performers, have tested positive for COVID-19. WWE issued a statement today confirming the company “will continue COVID-19 testing of its talent, production crew and employees in advance of TV productions for the foreseeable future.”
Jon Moxley, the husband of Young, was taken off tonight’s AEW Dynamite broadcast as a precaution. “Recently @JonMoxley had contact with someone who had contact with someone who has COVID-19. Mox did the right thing & warned us. Doc asked him to stay home & get tested to protect us here at our test site. Cage will be in action tonight on #AEWDynamite ahead of their title fight,” AEW president and CEO Tony Khan tweeted this afternoon.
“Jon Moxley can get slammed on a car, crawl through tacks & fall through the stage, but it’s every bit as cool that he came forward & told us he’d had secondhand exposure to COVID. We test everyone here at #AEWDynamite, but Jon protected everyone onsite like the great champ he is,” Khan wrote.
Moxley is scheduled to defend his AEW World Championship against Brian Cage on the second night of Fyter Fest, which will be taped next week.
Coverage of an incredibly newsworthy week is the focus of this week’s double-issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at what could be the end of the career of David Starr, his significance in wrestling, the charges made about him by an ex-girlfriend, his response, the response fro companies he was headlining for and a discussion of the bigger picture story and business history on the subject.
The new issue also has:
Most recent COVID-19 case in the WWE, how plans changed for WWE taping, the schedule going forward, the company’s policies on the subject of testing and fans how WWE’s reaction compares to other companies, the politicizing of the COVID story in Orange County and how things could change this week. We also look at how every other company is handling the situation, Kevin Owens not wrestling at next week’s taping, a UFC fighter who just tested positive and a training partner pulled from this week’s who had problems at the Orlando Airport that all the wrestlers that don’t live in the area have to fly into.
More on the departure of Paul Heyman as the head of Raw. We look at Heyman’s goals, USA Network’s reaction, the previous difference between Raw and Smackdown, how Raw has already changed, how the booking this year on Raw had changed, how NXT looked different, as well as a look at how all the wrestling shows have done over the past month and actual drops both from late last year and from early this year in the COVID era.
Talent that was being featured that wasn’t this week and why.
A feature on New Japan Pro Wrestling opening up, talking about the first shows, plus New Japan Cup coverage with match-by-match and star ratings, and where the tournament goes this week.
One of the most significant issues in MMA, weight cutting,and how another sport handles the situation.
A feature on the stockholders lawsuit against WWE regarding Saudi Arabia including two secret witnesses and what they have said about the television negotiations and what really happened after the October show when talent couldn’t get out of the country.
Full coverage of Backlash, noting the Randy Orton vs. Edge match, match-by-match coverage with star ratings as well as poll results on the show.
More on the XFL’s demise, a huge story regarding TV rights and how it relates to WWE & AEW when their deals are up, Evolve not running new shows, WWE and new touring shows, new TV series based on the life of a wrestling star, Sports ratings for the past week, Canadian ratings for the past week, most-watched shows on WWE Network and WWE’s current market value.
Mustafa Ali talking the behavior of the police, replacement feud on Smackdown and why, Drew McIntyre talks current scene, the stalker returns to Performance Center, Randy Orton talks Tommaso Ciampa, Wade Barrett talks booking idea he was given, plus next week’s TV stuff.
Coverage of this past week’s UFC show.
A back of the book feature on Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker. We’ve got his unbelievably long career title history, a look back at Georgia Wrestling in the 70s and 80s, his early days as Johnny Walker, how far masked wrestlers went to keep their identities secret, Jim Cornette talks the one time he saw him without his mask and working with him in Mid South, Les Thatcher talks their friendship clothes, the kneelift, the birth of the gimmick and it taking off, his famous match with Junkyard Dog in New Orleans, and his period as the No. 2 babyface in the 60s in an opposition promotion in New York. We also look at his criminal record updated.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Bryan Alvarez is reporting that no friends or family will be allowed at next week’s tapings in the wake of more people within WWE testing positive for COVID-19..
This week’s episode of The Bump featured Kevin Owens, Xavier Woods, Tyler Breeze, Fandango, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro.
WWE announced a new television deal in Italy today with Discovery that begins on July 1. WWE’s weekly programming will now air with original US commentary on DPlay PLUS, and shows with Italian commentary will air on DMAX.
Edge also commented on criticism of his Backlash match against Randy Orton: “I know some of our audience is conditioned to 52 superkick, 82 flip matches. That’s not going to be me. It was never me, but especially not now. I want the match where Bret Hart, Undertaker, & Gerald Brisco are gonna text me after.”
PWInsider is reporting that CHIKARA is shutting down in the wake of a number of allegations against Mike Quackenbush. CHIKARA talent including Jakob Hammermeier, Hallowicked, Kimber Lee, and Frightmare have resigned from the promotion. Allegations have specifically come out against Quackenbush and Icarus over inappropriate behavior.
ECCW released a statement saying they have removed people from their promotion following “allegations involving certain members of our promotion”. John Pollock later reported one of these members being Jeff Duncan, the co-owner and booker of the promotion. Duncan gave Pollock the following statement: “I am no longer involved with ECCW. While I deny the allegations, I understand this course of action is best for the company”.
WWE has issued a statement confirming that they will continue COVID-19 testing for the foreseeable future: “WWE will continue COVID-19 testing of its talent, production crew and employees in advance of TV productions for the foreseeable future.”
**********
COVID-19 has opened a Pandora’s box within the pro wrestling industry between what appears to be an outbreak of some sort in WWE, talent removed from tonight’s AEW tapings, and travel restrictions that theoretically affect plans for both companies when it comes to future tapings in Florida.
The biggest story is that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont have placed travel restrictions on people flying into those three states from states that have high current COVID-19 outbreaks.
Florida is one of the states, which essentially on paper would mean that when this goes into effect tomorrow, that anyone who flies from Florida into those three states would have to be quarantined for two weeks after arrival.
This greatly affects both WWE and AEW, which tape in Florida. AEW has a number of talents that live in the Northeast. WWE has its entire executive branch living in those three states.
Sources at AEW have said that they will try to be able to get around that because their talent will be tested at every trip. But they were not clear if they know if that will make a difference or not. WWE has not responded officially but talent has said that they have been told WWE will be testing at every taping going forward.
AEW had already pulled Jon Moxley and QT Marshall from the show tonight because each had been in contact over the past week with someone who later tested positive for COVID. Moxley actually made the decision himself knowing it was not worth the risk to the locker room.
In the case of Marshall, it was having contact with someone who is not related to the wrestling business. While AEW did not announce this publicly, as a precautionary measure, none of Marshall’s students, who have been fans in the stands and some of whom are under contract as wrestlers, were brought to tonight’s tapings. In specific, contracted wrestlers Anna Jay, Lee Johnson, and Alan Angels are also not at the tapings due to precautionary measures. To the best of our knowledge, no AEW talent itself has tested positive.
Moxley was in contact with somebody in Nevada, where he lives, who has tested positive.
In a related issue, Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that multiple people — including in-ring talent — at WWE that were at this past tapings in Orlando had tested positive. Multiple sources in WWE have confirmed that as accurate although WWE has not officially said anything nor released any names. Satin used the number as three or more. We were only told multiple people which included in-ring talent. This does affect at least one person if not more scheduled for the tapings on Friday and Saturday in Orlando for two weeks of Raw and SmackDown, which at this point are not canceled.
One WWE talent noted that they were told COVID-19 testing will now take place at every taping and that “we’re expected to isolate,” and stay in their rooms or homes at this point. One person said that they have been told they will be tested twice this week. Those in Orlando today were given a two-hour heads up for a mandatory test.
On the Saturday edition of Wrestling Observer Live, Jim Valley recaps the latest ramifications from the #SpeakingOut movement, Matt Riddle’s Friday debut on WWE SmackDown, IWA Mid-South’s controversial Friday return in a very confined environment with no social distancing and few masks, the home for many Portland, OR, wrestlers is closing down, and much more.
WWE has responded to reports that fans were allowed to attend last night during Monday’s television taping, but were discouraged from wearing masks.
The company issued the following response:
Fans have not been in attendance at WWE events since March 13. Yesterday, a select number of friends and family were permitted to attend WWE’s TV production.
These individuals were required to participate in medical screenings prior to entering the closed set at our training facility, and were kept apart from in-ring performers and production personnel. Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required.
Despite WWE’s statement, there was a segment on Raw last night that had The Street Profits come out and do their entrance, entering the crowd and dancing with members of the audience.
Jon Alba of Spectrum Sports 360 in Florida also reported that those he spoke to who attended the tapings said they didn’t feel pressured to not wear masks.
“The fans I spoke to told me they never felt pressured by #WWE not to wear a mask for TV purposes or any other reason,” he wrote on Twitter. “They confirmed temperature checks, and signed waivers as well. One noted they were in a group that had masks on them, and chose not to wear when taping started.”
WWE postponed their tapings that were scheduled for today due to a developmental wrestler testing positive for COVID-19. Everyone participating in recent tapings is expected to be tested today, with taping planned to resume on Wednesday.
Both Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer reported last night that masks were not allowed at the television taping. They go into detail on the subject in the Wrestling Observer Radio clip below:
