NEW JERSEY (PWP) — UFC 249 was canceled Thursday after ESPN and parent company Disney stopped UFC President Dana White’s plan to keep fighting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
After defiantly vowing for weeks to maintain a regular schedule of fights while the rest of the sports world halted, White confirmed the decision to cease competition in a text to The Associated Press.
“I was ready to go on Saturday, but Disney and ESPN asked me to step down,” White wrote. “I love and respect my partnership with them so I postponed the event.”
UFC 249 was scheduled for April 18 on ESPN Plus pay-per-view, and White planned to follow it with regular fight cards from Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino on tribal land in California’s Central Valley.
In an interview on ESPN, White said he “got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney and the highest level of ESPN” asking him to cancel the shows. The UFC moved to ESPN in 2019 with a reported $1.5 billion deal.
The network issued a statement to the AP: “ESPN has been in constant contact with the UFC regarding UFC 249. Nobody wants to see sports return more than we do, but we didn’t feel this was the right time for a variety of reasons. ESPN expressed its concerns to the UFC and they understood.”
Meanwhile, Vince McMahon and the WWE continued with plans to record episodes of RAW, Smackdown, NXT and even the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania. The setting was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando Florida, in an empty building.
WWE was able to film everything including the Monday Night RAW that aired the day after WrestleMania. They reportedly finished filming just a few short hours before Florida went into an official Stay at home that was ordered by Fla. Governor Ron DeSantis.
Thanks for the positivity, @StephMcMahon.
— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020
We are here to entertain YOU. Welcome to #WrestleMania! pic.twitter.com/JcPGlrAB3I
Stephanie McMahon addressed the fans to kick off WrestleMania, saying they’re hoping to entertain us during these tough times. “Other locations” for filming ended up being a vacant set to film the Boneyard match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles as well as a sound stage area to film parts of the Firefly Funhouse match between John Cena and ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt.
On the other side of the wrestling coin, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) had filmed at least 6 weeks worth of weekly shows to keep up with storylines and entertainment, also in an empty building with no fans. Tony Khan, who is backing AEW, told his talent, much like the WWE, that if they weren’t comfortable wrestling, they didn’t have to be there.
AEW and WWE’s NXT brand both air on Wednesday nights (TNT and USA) and both hold steady 950,000-1,000,000 viewers on average in the ratings, even in the empty buildings.
While rumors swirled and fans speculated on either company being able to continue much longer, they both found a way to give us a few more weeks. Now, after hearing that the WWE might take a break from running shows for the first time in its history, Vince McMahon revealed his hand.
During night two of WrestleMania, a commercial aired for their next Pay-Per-View, Money In The Bank. A show that historically happens in June surprised many by having a date of May 10th. We soon found out that the WWE would be LIVE at the Performance Center for Smackdown on Friday.
The question stands though: How long can WWE and AEW continue to film in these empty buildings before officials or network executives, like with UFC 249, step in and force them to pull the plug?
It’s a strange time for sports. Leagues have shut down, we have virtual NASCAR/Indy racing, wrestling with no fans in the building, and an NFL draft that will happen via video conferencing.
Even when life goes back to normal, there’s a good chance that sporting events will see a lack of crowds out of sheer caution.