Stephanie McMahon on how WWE handled the COVID-19 situation before WrestleMania 36

2020 will go down as one of the most unique years in wrestling history and Stephanie McMahon knows all too well about it. Never in the company's history has there been a year where they've had to rely on empty arena shows to ensure that the show goes on.

The biggest dilemma for Stephanie McMahon and all of WWE was in sorting out the logistics of WrestleMania 36. While they weren't sure if they could still hold the event at Raymond James Stadium in Miami, the government soon confirmed that the expected gathering of over 75,000 people wouldn't be possible.

Speaking to Insider.com, Stephanie McMahon revealed the thought process of WWE officials after the talks of lockdown started to come up:

“First and foremost, we had to take into account the safety of our fans and of our superstars and employees — that’s paramount,” Stephanie said. “Working with the local government offices in Florida, the CDC, and the World Health Organization, we made sure we were aligned with all the recommendations from the organizations to do the right thing.”

Stephanie McMahon then stated how things went about before WWE decided on hosting WrestleMania at the WWE Performance Center:

“We had to quickly pivot to decide — A) does the show still go on? and B) if so, where and how? We decided that yes we have the responsibility to our audience, and to our partners, to continue to produce our programming,” she said. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for our viewers to escape. We still do. It’s our mission to put smiles on peoples faces. WrestleMania took place at our Performance Center over two nights in front of absolutely no people, and it was definitely a unique experience.”

Stephanie McMahon admitted that the meetings were stressful and tense

Stephanie McMahon admitted that on a board-room level, the meetings were extremely stressful and the overall atmosphere was tense. It's hard to blame anyone since the situation was unlike anything that anybody had ever witnessed in their lifetimes.

It was essentially uncharted territory for WWE and they manage to navigate through it well, to the most part. Apart from the lack of testing in the first couple of months, things seemed fine as a whole and WWE gave the option to superstars to take time away - many of whom did and many of whom are still not back.

Either way, 2020 will be remembered as possibly the most unique year in WWE history and there would have been a lot of learning lessons for WWE going forward.