I just watched something strange going on in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) as it pertains to the infamous Chinese virus. Now, this virus is
the sole reason (officially anyway) that the country was shut down economically, draconian limits to individual freedoms were summarily suspended, and
we even have government mandates requiring all people to take a still-experimental vaccine, regardless of medical or religious issues with it. Sports
in general were closed down, and stadiums restricted to players only. According to that, this thing is an ELE (Extinction Level Event) waiting to
pounce.
Amid this turmoil, even my beloved wrasslin' (as opposed to wrestling, which is indeed an actual sport) struggled. Shows were taped without any live
audience whatsoever... then staff and lesser-known wrasslers were used as stand-ins (all masked) for an audience (I have to say, it was kinda painful
to watch these guys and gals playing to a crowd that wasn't there), then arenas were built with TV screens to allow people to be in the audience
remotely, and finally...
finally... the WWE returned to live shows on location.
I need to stop here to point something out before sommeone makes a complete and total north end of a south-going mule out of themselves. I know
wrasslin' is "fake." More properly, it is "choreographed"; the wrasslers know what moves will be coming and are trained to make it look like they
are hitting much harder than they are; in many cases, there is no physical contact. I know all this, OK? I've seen it live and in person.
But, the wrasslers are also extremely proficient athletes. They train constantly to be able to pull off these astounding maneuvers in a way that makes
them look sort of real. So, while I understand the fights are really more acting than fighting, that does not diminish the wtrasslers' abilities.
Anyway, back to the virus...
Leati Joseph Anoa'i goes by the screen name Roman Reigns. He's a big dude, muscled, powerful, but still not quite as huge as a few of the real
heavyweights. As a member of the Anoa'i family, wrasslin' is in his blood... Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is his cousin; his father is Sika of the
original Wild Samoans. At present he is Smackdown Champion, and has been for over a year. His manager is a short, fat guy called Paul Heyman (aka
"Brock Lesnar's pet walrus"... wrasslin' fans will get that). Heyman used to manage Brock Lesnar, a hulk of a man billed as the "Beast
Incarnate" and the "Alpha Male of our Species." Lesnar is an ex MMA champion, so he doesn't just do "kayfabe" matches... he can get in there and
hurt people if he wants to.
So the storyline is that Heyman is losing Reigns' trust because Lesnar showed back up in WWE after a long hiatus. The tension between Reigns and
Heyman built to such a crescendo that Reigns fired Heyman publicly, then knocked him out with a "Superman Punch" (Reigns leaps into the air and
delivers a right cross to the jaw as he comes down, which normally will (kayfabe) put an opponent out for severla minutes). Lesnar then came to
Heyman's defense, and the feud was on. At the January 1st PPV, "Day 1," the two would meet for the Smackdown Championship belt.
At the same PPV, the RAW Championship would be defended in a Fatal Four Way match between the reigning champion, Big E, Kevin Owens, Seth
"Freakin'" Rollins, and "The Almighty" Bobby Lashley, with a complete storyline behind that one as well.
Then, at 5:07 PM on January 1, 2022, just an hour before the start of the PPV, Reigns posted the following on Twitter:
I yearn to perform tonight
at #WWEDay1 to defend my Universal Championship. However, unfortunately, earlier today I tested positive for COVID-19. Due to the proper protocols I
am unable to compete as originally scheduled. I look forward to returning to action as soon as
possible.
ESPN
Link
Now, Reigns has a history with health issues. In 2007 he was diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, which eventually went into remission. In 2018, it
reappeared, prompting Reigns to make a public announcement at a live event that he was vecating the title and taking a leave of absense as the
leukemia had resurfaced. In late 2019 it was reported that Reigns' cancer had gone into remission and that he would likely return in early 2020 at a
PPV event (probably WrestleMania). However, that did not happen. With the Chinese virus scare and Reigns' compromised immunity from chemotherapy, he
chose to remain at home until he could have more assurance that he would not be risking his life by competing... a position I could understand and
sympathize with.
He did return in late 2020, captured the title again, and has been active ever since.
So when I saw the announcement, I figured he would be absent for at least close to two weeks... after all, the standard "quarantine" is 14 days,
right? WWE is taking this seriously; Reigns was in one of the Main Event matches, which had to be cancelled. Lesnar was also added to the Fatal Four
Way match for the RAW Championship, making it a Fatal Five Way match, which he then won. In one fell swoop, the entire storyline behind the RAW match
was shot to hell and back, and the storyline around the Smackdown match was put on indefinite hold. That's a lot of money, a PR nightmare, and some
seriously major overtime trying to redo two major storylines in less than a day!
On the January 3rd showng of RAW, Lesnar appeared (with his pet walrus Heyman, of course), and taunted Reigns saying he would "see him soon." OK, I
figured "soon" to be Friday week show of Smackdown... no way will Reigns be cleared in time to make that Friday's show.
Well, I was pretty busy with a project I was making progress on Friday, so I missed Smackdown. But I had it set to record, so I watched it Sunday
evening. The opening shot was of Roman Reigns speaking from inside the ring! How? He claimed to have "passed protocol"... but this was on January 7!
Six days after his announcement! And he was still in good shape! As I mentioned earlier, wrasslers who take time off then take more time off to get
back into shape... they have a daily training regiment, and a missed day means another day at least to make up for it.
So the confrontation is on... Lesnar comes out with Heyman and confronts Reigns. At one point, they are literally a foot from each other, talking
directly into each others' faces. There seems to be no concern over the fact that, 6 days earlier, Reigns was positive for this infamous ELE virus.
Then, as Lesnar turns his attention to Heyman for a moment, Reigns delivers the Superman Punch... from a standing start! Normally, that move is
performed from a running start... it's much easier to make the leap that way. But Reigns pulls it off from a standing start in what looks to be an
effortless move. The man is still in as good a shape as ever!
This, despite the fact that he was infected only 6 days prior with the disease which kept him out of WWE for so long due to his immunity being
compromised. He had a few days of training just to be able to do that stunt so easily, so the "deadly" virus must have been out of his system within
2-3 days at most.
What happened to a 14-day self-isolation period?
What is going on here? The WWE seems to have treated the Chinese virus like a 48-hour flu!
TheRedneck