WWE requiring masks is a basic, necessary step for safety

WWE hasn’t handled the COVID-19 pandemic well.

Per a report from Sportskeeda, more than 30 people within WWE have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the company tested its employees and contractors after an individual developmental wrestler tested positive for COVID-19.

Previously, the company, in contrast to fellow major American wrestling promotion AEW, had not been regularly testing people for COVID-19 at tapings. They were simply doing health screenings, which are often inadequate.

Worse yet, there were reports, which WWE shot down, that Kevin Dunn and the company specifically told developmental wrestlers and their family members attending tapings as part of the crowd that they should not wear masks.

At the very least, they weren’t mandating that people wear masks, but that’s all changing now that there have been so many positive COVID-19 tests in the company.

According to a report from WrestlingNews.Co’s Paul Davis, WWE will now be requiring wrestlers from the Performance Center and staff to wear masks not just when the are in the crowd but at any time they are in the building.

The only people who are not required to wear masks are talent in the ring and at ringside during the tapings themselves.

It’s good to hear that WWE as a company and the individual wrestlers and employees themselves are starting to take the novel coronavirus seriously. This is a deadly disease that could have effects in people even after they have recovered, and there is so much more we don’t know about. WWE has put its performers at risks for too long by not taking the virus seriously.

Requiring masks in the building sounds like a small step – and it is a small step. But small steps can be crucial. If everyone wears a suitable mask, then the risk of transmission may go down considerably, and that becomes even more important in a company like WWE with so many people, especially if there are still a couple of people not taking protocols seriously.