This is so surreal

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By now, most of the country, even the world has heard of the pandemic that has been dubbed COVID-19. This pandemic has affected the entire world.

Many states are shut down. Before now, I never would have dreamed that possible, but that is the ugly truth.

States are no longer requesting citizens to stay inside and isolate, they are mandating it. Some residents are allowed to only make small runs to essential places like grocery stores and pharmacies. Some are requested to not leave at all.

As if being quarantined to our residences wasn’t bad enough, we are being forced to watch reruns of everything, sports included.

Now, I’m not a sports nut, per say, but I do love to watch Wrestling. I love the WWE and watching independent wrestling circuits.

This brings me to my point in all my ramblings. I am the wife of a wrestler. So, not only do I love the sport, but my life has been steeped in the industry.

For the past four years, my husband and I were at wrestling shows quite a bit. At one point, we were at a different show every weekend.

It wasn’t just my husband and I. My daughter and granddaughter would come with us. My daughter would get the wrestler’s gear once they discarded it after entering the ring.

My granddaughter is too young to assist, but she loves her wrestlers. She is almost like a mascot and a morale booster for the wrestlers.

Since the outbreak, we have not been able to attend a show because none are happening.

Typically, if I missed a show for whatever reason, I could get my fill of the sport by watching Monday Night Raw, or Friday Night Smackdown by WWE.

The positive aspect is WWE owner Vince McMahon is still attempting to entertain the millions of fans around the world. I would like to think that the millionaire mogul made that decision because he didn’t want his fans to go without entertainment; money was more than likely the motivator.

For whatever reason he chose to continue the show, I am thankful.

Now, to the surreal part. McMahon doesn’t want to put any fans in danger, so the company’s idea was to put on a show at the WWE Performance Center in Florida.

The twist: no fans in the audience. It is strictly live streamed, just nobody in the stands.

This may seem like a simple adjustment, but for anybody who has attended a live sports event, especially wrestling, knows the dynamic of the show depends on the audience.

The wrestlers came out to their regular entrance music. Some even acted like they were pumping up the crowd.

It was almost comical to watch them pander to an invisible audience.

They kept the same story lines and inner fights. The odd part of that, was when the wrestler would grab the microphone from the announcers and act like they were having to shush a roaring crowd to be heard.

They could have stated their peace in a normal voice without the amplification of the microphone. However, to keep the “normalcy” of a profession show, they did everything they typically do.

It was a tad awkward, but it showed the wrestlers had moxie and were professionals.

I am still thankful they are doing that, even if it is a little on the weird side when I don’t hear the crowd roar to deafening decibels when the bad guy steps out to the ring.