The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa has postponed all shows and pool parties until mid-April, and that also includes the Hulk Hogan beach party which was set for April 6 by the event organizer team.
“While we have been looking forward to an amazing party at The Hard Rock Pool on 4/6/20, given recent events, for the health and safety of our guests, we have made the difficult decision to postpone Hogan’s Beach Party. Stay tuned for new dates,” a tweet from Hulk Hogan read yesterday. Managers аnd оthеr executives mау hire a corporate event planner tо organize a party, retreat, sales conference аnd meetings. Event planners hаvе thе ability tо organize events thаt wіll leave thе invited guests happy аnd satisfied. Sоmе оf thе reasons whу people ѕhоuld hire a corporate event planner include tіmе consumption. Planning fоr a major event requires a person tо tаkе tіmе making thе necessary preparations. Mоѕt managers аnd executives rarely hаvе thе tіmе tо dо thіѕ аnd thіѕ іѕ whу thеу opt tо hire planners. In Toronto, people access thе services оf thе planners vіа thе internet оr bу looking thrоugh directories. Evеrу planner possesses different organizing skills аnd thеу аrе creative іn thеіr оwn degree. Finding оnе whо саn comfortably organize large events іѕ necessary bесаuѕе thеу hаvе thе experience аnd thе necessary skills tо make аnу event lively. For best event planner visit to Venue Hire Auckland. Thеrе аrе numerous things thаt a person ѕhоuld consider whеn organizing corporate events. Sоmе оf thе things tо plan fоr include seating аnd table arrangements, food service, hiring sound equipments, coordinating thе entertainment, food catering аnd facility rentals. In Toronto, mаnу skilled planners hаvе thе necessary qualifications tо plan fоr ѕuсh events thоugh thе uniqueness оf thеіr services depends оn thеіr sense оf creativity. A corporate event planner operating іn thе city оf Toronto, mау ask thе company tо make dоwn payments bеfоrе thеу begin tо make аnу arrangements. Subsequent tо thе event, thеу mау complete thе payments. Thе аmоunt оf money tо pay depends оn thе number оf services thаt thе company requests. Whеn planning fоr a small event, a management team ѕhоuld consider hiring a corporate event planner whо mоѕtlу organizes large events. Thоѕе thаt hаvе perfected thеіr organizing skills аrе likely tо organize a fabulous event аnd thе hiring company ѕhоuld рut іntо consideration. Aftеr identifying a particular corporate event planner, thе company ѕhоuld hаvе a brainstorming session tо decide оn a number оf things ѕuсh аѕ thе mode оf payments аnd thе services tо include іn thе event. Thе brainstorming session gives thе planner a foundation tо begin making thе necessary arrangements. Event organizers іn Toronto consider production services tо bе оnе оf thе mоѕt important factors whеn organizing corporate events. Thе lighting designs, theme generation, creative writing, staging, talent booking, speaker scheduling, décor design, emceeing, presentation design, ѕhоw direction аnd special effects аrе ѕоmе оf thе factors thаt differentiate corporate events frоm аll thе оthеr events.
The party is obviously dependent on WrestleMania taking place and as things stand, it’s not likely to happen. Those who purchased tickets to a postponed event are encouraged to hold on to their tickets for a new date to be announced. For those unable to attend a future postponed show, refunds will be available at original point of purchase.
WWE stocks tanked today with the rest of the market, plunging a further 13% to a low of $31 at time of this writing.
This is the lowest that WWE stocks traded since December 2017 and down from the $100 high from September 2018. While stocks were already volatile over the past two quarters, the coronavirus hit was another nail in the proverbial coffin.
With live event attendance dwindling, Network subscriptions falling, events taking place in empty arenas, and the possibility of WrestleMania not taking place as scheduled, it’s the perfect unwanted storm. But while the company is financially sound and they can ride this, Wall Street is very, very unforgiving.
Two inappropriate notifications were sent to iOS and Android devices which have the W-O News app installed this morning.
We have identified where it came from and took necessary precautions and disabled notifications on the app for the time being until OneSignal can help in restoring our API key. No user information was compromised, just a bot managed to get into our OneSignal account and sent the notification.
The app will continue to work normally, just without the service of push notifications.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that all large events and gatherings of any size should be reconsidered unless promoters can protect people and ensure proper hygiene and social distancing.
Weddings, sports events, concerts, music festivals, and other events are considered a risk at this point and CDC said they should be postponed. “Large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities,” the CDC said.
As lives of everyone around the world dramatically changing for the next few weeks, the chances of WrestleMania week happening are less than 0% at this point and the event will have to be rescheduled. Tampa Bay officials will be meeting this week to pull the plug on the show if WWE doesn’t cancel beforehand.
WWE is continuing to push all events for WrestleMania week including the big event with the idea being that they are waiting for the city to cancel the show due to contractual obligations. WWE said that they are working on a contingency plan should WrestleMania not take place on its original date or location.
Impact Wrestling’s aptly-named Lockdown show set for March 28 has to be moved after St. Clair College in Windsor has cancelled all non-essential on and off campus events due to the coronavirus.
The university is also shutting down classes starting from next Monday and moving everything online.
The Impact Plus event is produced by Impact in conjunction with Border City Wrestling. Lockdown is an old pay-per-view name that the company used in the past where all matches were held in a cage. The event name has not been used since 2016.
The 2020 Lockdown was announced by Impact in January. The company has not announced what will happen to the show yet.
WWE has announced another name entering its Hall of Fame class of 2020 and that is the recently-retired Jushin “Thunder” Liger. Liger joins Batista, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, The British Bulldog, The nWo, and The Bella Twins in this year’s class.
In an interview with Tokyo Sports, Liger said that he’s glad he’s being recognized by WWE but emphasized that this wouldn’t have happened without the support of many others.
Born Keiichi Yamada in 1964, he was given the gimmick in 1989, a character based on the anime television series of the same name. Having participated in over 4,000 matches throughout his 36-year career, Liger is one of the most recognizable names in the history of professional wrestling and an icon in his homeland of Japan.
Liger wrestled for multiple promotions throughout his career including All Star Wrestling, Stampede Wrestling, WWE, WCW, Ring of Honor, TNA, and other independent promotions, but remained loyal to New Japan Pro Wrestling where he was the longest-serving employee.
In WWE, he only had one match and that came under the NXT banner in 2015 where he wrestled Tyler Breeze at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event. In WCW, he had a few more matches than that, wrestling for the Atlanta-based promotion between 1991 and 1992 and then 1995 and 1999. Liger also had a few matches under TNA/Impact Wrestling, making his debut for them at the Bound For Glory 2005 pay-per-view losing to Samoa Joe and then went on to have a few more PPV matches during the following year.
With a career spanning over three decades, the world of professional wrestling said goodbye to Jushin Thunder Liger on January 6, 2020 in his last appearance at NJPW’s New Year Dash. Liger had his final match the day before at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Liger’s title reigns are too many to count, including 22 which came in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title a total of 11 times and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team title six times with six different partners. He is regarded as one of the best high-flyers this industry has ever seen.
Matt Hardy was supposed to be part of the Future Stars of Wrestling show tonight in Las Vegas but the recent free agent had to cancel due to travel issues and chaos at airports thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a video he posted on social media, Hardy said he had a very “early, long, taxing, frustrating day at the airport” and said it was beyond his or FSW’s control that he couldn’t be part of the Mecca VI show tonight.
Hardy said he was heartbroken more than anyone as he was looking forward to go back to Vegas and return to FSW but he promised to make up for missing tonight’s show by showing up at the June show which happens to be the promotion’s 11th anniversary event.
The fourth season of Total Bellas was uploaded in full on the WWE Network this weekend.
Season four of the E! reality show contains 10 episodes in total and features Nikki, her boyfriend Artem, Brie, Daniel Bryan, and the rest of the Bella clan.
The season averaged around 436,000 viewers per episode when it aired last year, a big drop from the 582,000 average it did in season three. Despite the drop in viewers, E! has signed up Total Bellas for another season, a season which starts airing on April 9.
As the world continues to slowly come at a standstill, movie productions are also being halted for a few weeks to assess the current situation with the coronavirus.
Yesterday, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced that production on his Netflix movie Red Notice is “pressing pause” on all of its production effective tomorrow for the next two weeks.
“It’s my privilege to speak eye to eye with our entire crew to help give a little clarity and guidance, as the most important thing right now is for us to get everyone home to their concerned families. Gotta protect our babies, spouses, loved ones and elderly,” Johnson said. “We’ll continue to monitor and assess this situation closely to make the best decisions for our families first and then our businesses. We’re a resilient nation who ultimately, will always rise to the occasion to be accountable and work together to overcome whatever hardship lies in front of us.”
Johnson said that the United States will do its job and the rest of the world will do theirs and urged everyone to stay healthy, vigilant, and safe. “We’re all in this – together.”
Red Notice is the largest ever production by Netflix and also features Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds alongside with the former WWE champion.
Yesterday’s Smackdown from an empty WWE Performance Center on FOX did 2,588,000 viewers, with 2,673,000 viewers tuning in the first hour and 2,503,000 viewers in the second. That was up 136,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast and the second most-watched Smackdown of 2020! The show did a 0.7 in the 18-49 demo, matching the other top shows. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
If WrestleMania happens somehow, someway, fans in the United Kingdom and Ireland are now banned too from entering the United States after the Trump administration extended the travel ban to include the UK and Ireland following the announcement of a blanket travel ban for European countries in the Schengen Area. The ban comes into effect on Monday.
Thousands of European fans already had to cancel their plans earlier in the week as the ban will run past the WrestleMania date. As things stand, WrestleMania is most likely getting canned by Tampa Bay city officials and WWE would have to reschedule or go to their contingency plan, whatever that might be.
Last year, fans from 68 different countries attended the show, contributing to the $17 million gate and $165 million in economic impact generated in the New York and New Jersey area.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller has said that the city is ready to pull the plug on WrestleMania but hopes that WWE makes the call themselves.
WWE is standing firm on the decision to go ahead with WrestleMania most likely due to contractual issues. If WWE announces the postponement or cancellation of WrestleMania before the city or state imposes a ban, they would be on the hook financially, whereas if they are forced to cancel it, then the legal status changes.
“I’m hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make the call themselves but a week from now, if they’ve not done that and we’re still in the situation we’re in, we’ll probably have to pull the plug on that,” Miller told FOX 13.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister is hoping that WWE follows other sports who canceled or postponed their events. “I don’t ever want to see people put profit over public safety,” Chronister said.
Tampa Bay officials will meet again next week to make the decision for WWE if the company fails to cancel WrestleMania.
Paige’s appearance on Smackdown last night did not happen as the former Smackdown General Manager and Divas champion didn’t make it to Orlando due to travel issues related to the coronavirus.
“Sorry guys travel made it very hard for me to get there for #SmackDownLIVE with everything that’s going on. Completely out of my control. very sorry.. But at least @itsBayleyWWE is keeping you entertained,” she tweeted during the show.
Paige was supposed to confront the Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley on the show but instead Bayley teamed up with Sasha Banks to take on Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in the empty Performance Center.
Two more AEW Dynamite shows will have to be relocated due to the current situation and the April 1 and 8 shows are moving from Milwaukee and St. Louis respectively.
The company has rescheduled to have the St. Louis show on October 7 at the Chaifetz Arena and the Milwaukee show on October 28 at the UWM Panther Arena. Fans can keep their tickets for the rescheduled shows or else ask for a refund at the point of purchase.
AEW has not announced where these shows will take place but it is likely that they will be from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaking of Daily’s Place, while AEW has previously announced that their next week’s show will have “restricted attendance policy,” it looks now like there will be no one at all in attendance and just like Smackdown last night and Raw on Monday, this will be an empty arena show with only essential personnel there.
The Mayor of Jacksonville yesterday ordered all city-owned event venues to remain closed until further notice and Daily’s Place is owned by the city.
Full Sail University is closing its doors for group events through the end of April, meaning NXT will not be taped from that location for the next month and a half.
Thankfully for WWE, the WWE Performance Center has been a God send in more ways than one and can utilize their own building to hold live events as they have already done with this week’s NXT and Smackdown.
While the audience and look of the show isn’t as good, the WWE PC at least provides an alternative for WWE to keep their show goings, even though it means no fans in attendance.
Unlike this week, WWE is presumably working with the idea that NXT TV shows will be “empty arena” ones and no fans will be allowed inside with only the required personnel in attendance to make the show work.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto banned all public gatherings of more than 250 people after declaring a state of emergency in the city. The ban goes into effect at 9AM on Monday…the same day that #316Day Raw was supposed to take place.
The special Raw with Stone Cold Steve Austin in attendance was pretty full with only a few hundred tickets in the bleachers remaining.
After the announcement from the Mayor came, WWE issued a statement saying, “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.”
Whatever the plan is moving forward for this particularly-themed Raw, 3:16 day will be celebrated with no fans in attendance!
The coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented situation for a lot of events worldwide and that includes WWE’s biggest event of the year, WrestleMania. But WrestleMania week is not strictly WWE as tons of other independent wrestling promotions take advantage of the several thousands of people who come to town for a few days, giving fans a wide variety of shows to attend to.
But with WrestleMania in limbo due to the coronavirus, these independent shows and events are taking the hit too. The majority, if not all, of them are dependent on WrestleMania taking place. If WWE cancels WrestleMania, these event promoters will be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.
It’s something that no one predicted that it was going to happen, but reality is now sinking in that unless there’s a major breakthrough and the spread of the coronavirus slows down over the next week or so, then this is a very bad year for business.
In doing research for this piece, a total of 53 non-WWE shows are scheduled to take place in the Tampa Bay area between Tuesday, March 31, and Sunday, April 5. And those are only in-ring wrestling shows. 22 other non-live events are also taking place between Wednesday, April 1 and Monday, April 6.
A few events have been canceled already. The Bullet Club Beach Party scheduled for Saturday, April 4 at Whiskey Joe’s has been binned by the promoters. “Our first priority, before anything else, is the safety and health of our guests and our talent. No one is more disappointed in this outcome than us,” a statement from the promoters read. “We are as upset by this outcome as you all are, but we do not want to let this be the end of the road. We have plenty of gas left in our tank, and we fully intend on running an event in the distant future, within calendar year 2020.”
The promoters also promised to refund all the money but have urged everyone to give them some time to prepare for the “massive undertaking” that the small team has to go through to return everyone’s money.
Tailgate Joe, which specializes in tailgates for concerts, sports, etc, is also ready to offer refunds if WrestleMania is canceled. If Mania goes on as planned, then the tailgate party goes on. If Mania is postponed or moved, then a new location and date will be announced and same tickets will be honored. And if Mania is canceled, then there’s the option to either get a refund or have your ticket swapped for next year’s WrestleMania party.
The Collective, which is promising “the biggest and most diverse Mania Weekend experience,” operates the Game Changer Wrestling promotion and is holding several shows at The Cuban Club. In a Twitter message, they said that the show must go on and the majority of their customers told them they want to see the shows moving forward.
“The Collective and all its partners are committed to following through with our scheduled events as planned. This plan remains in effect regardless of any announcements in relation to the WWE and their scheduled events in the coming days or weeks,” a statement read, adding that they will try and keep The Cuban Club “a safe and clean environment” and supply any sanitation products during their events.
But perhaps the biggest non-WWE event during WrestleMania weekend is WrestleCon. A staple during WrestleMania weekend for the past several years, WrestleCon holds its own fan convention and in-ring events as well as bus transport and even hotel accommodations.
Michael Bochicchio, who runs Highspots.com and is the WrestleCon promoter, told us that as of now, WrestleCon remains ready to go. “I don’t expect WrestleMania or WrestleCon to actually take place as scheduled, but due to contractual concerns we are not initiating any cancellation,” Bochicchio said when reached via e-mail.
“We understand that our event is reliant upon WrestleMania, we have no interest in running an event without WWE involvement. That is both a short term answer for Tampa and a longer term answer with regards to any future events,” he continued.
But with WrestleMania touch and go and no concrete answer expected until next week, Bochicchio is waiting for the city of Tampa or the state of Florida to make mandatory bans on mass gatherings to actually cancel. “I think both ourselves and the WWE are protecting contractual interests that could be handled by the city of Tampa or the state of Florida making some edicts with regards to mass gatherings. Other states and cities have chosen to take such appropriate action to protect not only their local communities but also the global well being during this pandemic.”
This is where force majeure comes in, the legal term that refers to a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and restrict participants from fulfilling obligations.
“The sports industry is facing thousands of disrupted business relationships and corresponding contracts, ranging from tickets with fans that will have to be refunded to multi-million dollar licensing agreements now worth far less than before,” Kent Schmidt, partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney who specializes in business litigation, said.
“There will be years of litigation as courts and other tribunals sort out the legal ramifications of pulling the plug on these events and decide which party is left holding the bag,” Schmidt continued. “These issues come down to contract questions including the language in agreements, and applying contractual doctrines. But equitable considerations will also predominate. Particularly for situations in which one party is better able to absorb the loss, the courts will apply a fairness principle,” Schmidt said.
There’s also frustration of purpose, another law term that can be used by a buyer for non-performance of contractual duties when a later and unforeseen event impedes the buyer’s purpose for entering into the contract, and the seller at the time of entering the contract, knew of the buyer’s purpose.
“Although force majeure clauses and the legal doctrine of impossibility of performance will apply in many cases, another legal theory that is particularly appropriate to the sports industry and cancellation of major events is the frustration of purpose rule,” he continued. “Hundreds of ancillary contracts associated with major sporting events will come within the same frustration of purpose rule. Without fans in attendance, the purpose of the contract is frustrated and the party should be released from having to perform,” Schmidt says.
As expected, many customers who bought tickets to WrestleCon are asking for refunds already, especially those who are were coming from Europe and no longer can attend due to the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration this week. “We are quite aware of the travel bans in place that would impact many of our European customers. We support those travel decisions and think its an appropriate step to take considering the uncertainty. Domestically we encourage all people to refrain from large gatherings and unnecessary travel,” Bochicchio said.
And as far as refunds go, WrestleCon will be processing those after the future of the event is set in stone. “We would expect to begin processing them soon, immediately after our future is determined. We hope that will be very soon. Depending on those decisions, refunds would either consist of ‘everybody’ or ‘handling on a case by case basis.'”
With hotel room holds, buses booked, and other locations locked down to hold WrestleCon shows, Bochicchio said that there are many reasons why they can’t start the refund process immediately but eventually 100% of the purchased price will be refunded. “Unlike airline industries, service contracting, and Ticketmaster, we will not ‘make right’ with customers by merely giving them a future credit or by keeping any type of ‘change fee’, we will refund all appropriate instances.”
If Tampa is a bust and WrestleMania doesn’t happen this year, there’s an old saying that goes, “there’s always next year!” And you can bet WrestleCon will be there in 2021 in Los Angeles.
“We already have plans confirmed in Los Angeles and we hope that everybody that has done business with us in Tampa will appreciate how they are treated and continue to do business with us in Los Angeles, if they end up going next year. We also understand that everybody wants an immediate solution to their specific issue. We hope to address those efficiently,” Bochicchio concluded.
There will be no WWE Backstage on FS1 next week as FOX Sports announced that it will be suspending production for their live FS1 daily studio shows through at least Friday, March 20.
“Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly,” the statement said. FOX Sports decided to ditch the shows “out of an abundance of caution.”
With this time frame, only one Backstage would be getting canned unless the suspension is extended. CM Punk was expected back on the panel next week and Rhea Ripley was the in-studio guest for the week.
NXT from the WWE Performance Center did 697,000 viewers this week, down 21,000 viewers from last week’s show. NXT was #42 on the top 50 cable chart in the 18-49 demo with a 0.21 rating. The difference between the two shows this week was of 69,000 viewers, which is down from the 188,000 difference of last week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
AEW Dynamite this week won the ratings again but suffered a massive drop in viewers, getting 766,000 viewers, down 140,000 from last week’s broadcast. With a 0.26 in the 18-49 demo, Dynamite placed #25 in the top 50 chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
