WWE Champion Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19, WWE has announced.
WWE released a short statement on their website saying, “Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed in quarantine.” No further details have been released as of this time.
Prior to the news, it appeared as though McIntyre was set to defend the WWE Championship against WWE Hall of Fame member Goldberg at the Royal Rumble on Sunday, Jan. 31, however those plans may have now been thrown into flux.
McIntyre has just under three weeks to get cleared for a return before the Royal Rumble. However, his quarantine time is undetermined, meaning his return to television is up in the air, as well. There is no word, as of now, whether McIntyre’s case will lead to other members of the WWE roster and staff being quarantined, as well. WWE has not announced any form of contact tracing.
McIntyre was also set to face Randy Orton in a non-title match on Monday Night Raw tonight, live from Tropicana Field in Tampa, Fla. on Sportsnet 360. There has been no announcement regarding any sort of alternative matches.
In June, it was reported that there was upwards of 30 COVID-19 cases at the WWE Performance Center, leaving skeleton crews to produce both Raw and SmackDown. WWE talent such as Rene Paquette, Adam Pearce, Kayla Braxton, and Jamie Noble, among others, were all confirmed positive cases in June.
The state of Florida, where WWE has been producing their weekly television shows since March, reported over 110,000 new COVID-19 cases in the past seven days, the third-highest total among all U.S. states, behind only California and Texas. The daily average case count over the last seven days in Hillsborough County, where WWE is currently producing both Raw and SmackDown, is 925 according to The New York Times.
Orange County, the home of the WWE Performance Center and weekly NXT productions, has averaged over 1,000 cases per day over the last seven days. The latter ranks third-highest in the state, while the former ranks fifth.
