Vince McMahon Says WWE Has Been Talking To Arenas About Running Shows With Fans

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon discussed the return of regular WWE live events during the annual shareholder's meeting on July 16. WWE has ran only TV tapings from the Performance Center in Orlando, FL since March due to the coronavirus pandemic. There has been talk of WWE holding standard live events this fall, but that has not been confirmed.

Vince said WWE is currently working with arenas, but they do not have any dates confirmed. He noted that it's imperative WWE has fans to interact with, and he believes the company will capitalize on the new environment.

"Sure, we obviously have to follow what's going on and sometimes you think you have the answer and then, 'Uh oh' – COVID-19 makes a more severe impact than you had imagined beginning with," he said. "We're working with arenas. We have any number of tentative dates. Those tentative dates keep moving back sometimes.

"But again, with our form of entertainment, it's imperative that we have fans to interact with. And we continue to look forward. Pinpointing exactly when we're going to return, it's a whole different atmosphere than has been in the past and we'll capitalize on it."

Vince also discussed WWE's return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and noted that a return before the end of the year is possible. He talked about how everything depends on the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Oh, that's a possibility," Vince said of a 2020 return to the Kingdom. "Obviously, Saudi has been going through what we in America have been going through. As far as COVID'S concerned. Right now, I think they're doing a little bit better than we are considerably better.

"So, there's a possibility that we'll still get a show in before the end of the year, as was scheduled. But we're not certain because, you know, who can be certain about what COVID-19 is going to do."

It was noted back in late April during the WWE Q1 2020 earnings call that the Saudis were still hopeful that WWE would be able to return in November of this year, but that a date in December was also possible. Vince said then that he wasn't too sure if the Saudis would be able to give WWE the OK to perform in November or December due to the coronavirus outbreak, but the Saudis really wanted WWE to come back later this year.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.