WWE: Undertaker, AJ Styles drop jaws in 'Boneyard match' as Wrestlemania 36 goes ahead behind closed doors

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Apr 05, 2020, 11:25 AM IST

Florida's Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was expected to be filled jampacked with wrestling fans but the event is being held behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and other, unnamed, locations, with only essential personnel.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought all sports activities to a halt and players are practising social distancing and self-isolation during the pandemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the governments all around are urging people to stay at home.

Despite all of this, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) opted to go ahead with its trademark show Wrestlemania as a two-day event.

The day one of the star-studded event took place on Saturday (local time), however, the organizers decided to host it with no live audience amid COVID-19 outspread.

Florida's Raymond James Stadium in Tampa was expected to be filled jampacked with wrestling fans but the event is being held behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and other, unnamed, locations, with only essential personnel.

"We believe that in this time, especially right now with all this uncertainty ... that there is a need for escapism and for people to be able to get away from all this and put it behind them," Levesque had told CNN.

"We feel an obligation in some way to try and continue to provide entertainment to people. It's our company mission to put smiles on people's faces, and we are continuing to try to do that," he added.

On the first day of Wrestlemania, the Undertaker went head-to-head against AJ Styles, and the former made his entry in a grand fashion, giving fans some major nostalgia.

Undertaker faced AJ Styles in a 'Boneyard match' where the former managed to came out triumphant and kept his almost perfect Wrestlemania record alive.

Seth Rollins locked horns with Kevin Owens but the match got converted into a 'No-disqualification match'.

Goldberg and Braun Strowman battled it out for the Universal Championship, and it was the latter who came out victorious in under three minutes.

The United States, which has now become the epicentre of the coronavirus, has recorded over 3 lakh cases or more than 25% of the total global cases of COVID-19. 

According to the university tracker, the US has recorded 311,357 cases and 8,452 deaths from COVID-19. It recorded over 1300 deaths between Saturday and Sunday.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has crossed 12 lakh with close to 65,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.