Outside the Box WrestleMania Plans, WWE Taping Shows, Past WrestleManias on ESPN

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

WWE Reportedly Preparing Unique WrestleMania Presentation

With WWE announcing that WrestleMania 36 will emanate from the WWE Performance Center and other undisclosed locations without fans on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, the company is reportedly planning on getting creative.

According to Fightful Select (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), a company source said WWE has some "really cool" and "outside the box" plans for WrestleMania.

WrestleMania is usually the biggest show of the year and is often staged in front of 70,000 or more fans, but without the luxury of a live crowd, WWE has no choice other than to shake things up in order to entertain those watching at home.

While WWE could have opted to postpone WrestleMania, the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and when large public gatherings will once again be permitted would have made that extremely difficult.

Instead, WWE is going forward with an altered version of the show and giving fans some much-needed entertainment over the course of a two-day period.

The fact that there are no fans in attendance means WWE can pre-tape some things and hold matches at unusual locations, which may be what the source was referring to when mentioned "outside the box" ideas for WrestleMania.

WWE Reportedly Planning to Tape Raw, SmackDown, WrestleMania

With more and more restrictions being put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE is reportedly looking to get ahead of the game.

According to John Pollock of Post Wrestling, multiple sources said WWE is planning to tape the remaining episodes of Raw and SmackDown before WrestleMania soon. One source said WWE is going to tape both parts of WrestleMania over the next week as well, while another source was unsure if that is the case.

Since the state government in Florida or the federal government could put a halt to WWE putting on shows at any time, even without fans in attendance, it would behoove WWE to work as quickly as possible to ensure that it will have enough programming in the can over the next couple of weeks.

There won't necessarily be a ton of new content needed for Raw or SmackDown since video packages and even past matches can be used to fill time, but getting the WrestleMania matches done is likely the primary concern.

Taking away the live element of WrestleMania could be disappointing to some, but waiting until April 4 and 5 to do the matches would be a risk and could put the show in jeopardy of getting canceled or postponed.

One advantage WWE would have if it tapes the matches ahead of time would be having more control over the overall production and being able to make it more of a cinematic experience than WWE usually is.

WWE is working under less-than-ideal circumstances, but the report suggests that the company is determined to get some version of WrestleMania 36 out to its viewing audience.

ESPN to Air Past WrestleMania PPVs

WWE and ESPN announced Friday that past WrestleManias will air on ESPN over the next three Sundays:

WrestleMania 30 will air March 22 at 7 p.m. ET, WrestleMania 32 will air March 29 at 7 p.m. ET and WrestleMania 35 will air April 5 at 3 p.m. ET in the hours before Night 2 of this year's WrestleMania 36.

While those with a WWE Network subscription can watch the aforementioned WrestleManias whenever they want, ESPN and WWE are providing those without a subscription an opportunity to view them.

It benefits ESPN in terms of giving some programming during a light time due to nearly every sport suspending operations amid the coronavirus pandemic, and it helps WWE since it could convince some viewers to subscribe to WWE Network for WrestleMania 36.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Ryan Droste of ComicBook.com) reported last month that WWE was in talks with ESPN to sell its pay-per-view rights, which would have resulted in the pay-per-views airing on ESPN+.

Although that hasn't happened yet, the fact that past WrestleManias are being shown on ESPN could be a sign that talks are progressing.

At a time when the sports world has essentially come to a halt, WWE is one of the only games in town, and it could benefit over the long term from having a working relationship with ESPN.

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