Coronavirus: WWE Raw in Pittsburgh will be closed doors affair; Paige misses Smackdown

Bengaluru, March 14: WWE tried to avoid the Coronavirus fallouts that has become perhaps the biggest threat to the world, right now. And as the number of victims continue to increase, the biggest pro-wrestling promotion of the world had to announce show cancellations as precautionary measures. So, the next episode of their flagship won’t take place as scheduled.

WWE has officially confirmed that the next episode of Monday Night Raw will air from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will have a similar atmosphere like last night’s Smackdown without any audience. Only 'essential personnel’ will be in attendance as per the below-released statement.

"Monday Night Raw Proceeds With No Live Audience," the announcement reads. "This Monday night, Raw will air live as regularly scheduled and emanate from WWE's training facility in Orlando, Florida with only essential personnel in attendance. The event was originally scheduled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

After Smackdown in Detroit, Michigan took place behind closed doors, there were rumours already doing the rounds about Monday’s #316day special show possibily being rescheduled. PWInsider.com released a spoiler on the same which was later confirmed by the WWE as they dropped a tweet via the official handle.

Coronavirus pandemic continues across the United States, which might force WWE to choose the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida as the new home of RAW, SmackDown and NXT, temporarily.

WWE Raw as supposed to be a fully 'loaded up’ show on the Road to Wrestlemania 36 where WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin's special appearance was advertised to celebrate the "3:16 Day". A WrestleMania 36 contract signing between AJ Styles and The Undertaker is on the card whereas an appearance by WWE Hall of Famer Edge is also expected.

Meanwhile, the deadly virus also barred one of the headliners of this week’s Smackdown, Paige from appearing on the show. The youngest reigning WWE Divas Champion, who is currently working as an analyst on FS1's WWE Backstage show, was scheduled to appear on the show.

But as noted by WWE, 'travel issues’ related to the coronavirus pandemic prevented her appearance. Paige later took to Twitter to apologize to the WWE Universe for not showing up.



Sasha Banks and Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley kicked off SmackDown to take shots at her absence. She was originally scheduled to confront Bayley. Perhaps, a storyline was planned for the return of Paige on TV after a six months’ TV hiatus following split with Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors - Asuka and Kairi Sane. There’s no word whether WWE will stick with that plan when she eventually comes back.



In the absence of the 26-year-old superstar, a potential in-ring return rumour for her continues to roam around the internet. It was fuelled up even more as Paige noted that comeback to action always remains a possibility. Hopefully, WWE will address this matter, soon and thereby remove doubts of the fans.