Tommaso Ciampa to defend NXT Championship at MSG Live Event as WWE forced into changes due to COVID-19 outbreak

The NXT Champion is headed to Madison Square Garden.
The NXT Champion is headed to Madison Square Garden.

With the WWE main roster in a bad way due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak, the NXT brand has been called upon for assistance on the holiday tour.

Tommaso Ciampa and other NXT superstars could be set for the WWE Live event holiday loop as many of the talent from RAW and SmackDown will miss the shows.

It was reported earlier that many superstars tested positive for COVID-19 after this week's Live Events.

Madison Square Garden announced this afternoon on social media that Tommaso Ciampa will defend the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne on tonight's show.

Several main eventers off this week's WWE Live event tour

The term "card subject to change" has never been more relevant than it is now as WWE is reportedly making several changes to tonight's Live events in New York and Tampa.

According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, WWE Champion Big E, Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch, who were all scheduled to compete at tonight's show, aren't present backstage for tonight's Madison Square Garden event.

In the form of make-good, Johnson states that the company is rushing both Edge and Natalya to New York tonight to take part in the Madison Square Garden show. The new main event of tonight's show features the Rated-R Superstar taking on Kevin Owens in a steel cage match.

At the WWE SmackDown Live Event in Tampa, Johnson reports there will be changes to the show's main events. The previously advertised matches were Drew McIntyre and The New Day taking on The Bloodline and Charlotte Flair defending the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks in a Street Fight.

With all of these changes happening less than a week before WWE Day 1, you can't help but believe that card as we know it could end up looking drastically different by the time we get to the show on Saturday.

What do you make of this latest WWE Live event news? Do you think this is going to impact WWE's Day 1 pay-per-view this Saturday? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.

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