Bengaluru, April 15: WWE has not only ran this week's episode of Monday Night Raw, live from the empty Performance Center in Orlando, Florida but also started bringing in more talents for one particular taping than they have since using closed-set locations for shows.

While the number of employees used during the show has not been confirmed, WWE will continue to air Raw, SmackDown and NXT, live from the PC the NXT Arena at Full Sail University instead of taped format.

This raised eyebrows of many as the world is going through the coronavirus pandemic which puts an indefinite halt to the entire sports and entertainment business. So how does the promotion continue to tape its shows amid this COVID-19 outbreak?

As per a detailed report by wrestlingINC.com, Vince McMahon-owned promo was allowed to carry through TV tapings and live TV even though coronavirus-related restrictions are intact in the state of Florida. WWE was deemed an 'essential business' by the office of Governor Ron DeSantis.

Orange County, Florida Mayor Jerry Demings was asked during a press conference about WWE continuing its operations during this tough situation. Demings said that WWE was originally deemed as non-essential business which was changed after some talks with the office of Governor Ron DeSantis.

"I think initially there was a review that was done and they were not initially deemed an essential business. With some conversation with the Governor's office regarding he Governor's [stay-at-home] order, they were deemed an essential business. Therefore they were allowed to remain open," Demings said.

ESPN reported the permission was granted in an April 9 memo from DeSantis' office where the decision was taken that they allow WWE to continue working. Statements from the memo are as follows,

"essential services" in Florida include "employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience -- including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production -- only if the location is closed to the general public."



Essential businesses that remain open in Florida are health care, communications, transportation, financial, energy, food industries and WWE now.

Thus, the company led by Vince McMahon stays out of Florida's shelter-in-place order runs through at least Thursday, April 30. WWE is said to be exempted from all the restrictions as the non-essential business tag was reversed by DeSantis' office.

It was also noted that that essential businesses which continue to produce money are being counted. A spokesperson from DeSantis office admitted the same to ESPN on Monday evening that some services were deemed essential "because they are critical to Florida's economy" and WWE appears to be one of them.

With that being said, Vilnie Mac would be relieved as he won't have to compromise with his lucrative TV deals with NBC UNIVERSAL and FOX that air Raw and SmackDown, respectively.