Multiple WWE staff & talent test positive for COVID-19, FOX Cancels its NYE special - Report

WWE's plans for New Year's Eve could possibly change once again, due to the news released by FOX on Tuesday evening, regarding its NYE special live program. The company formally announced that their "New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022” special would be canceled, sighting COVID-19 concerns, specifically the Omicron Variant, as the reason for their cancelation.

"While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for FOX’S NEW YEAR’S EVE TOAST & ROAST 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards." - FOX, Official Twitter

Earlier this month, it was reported that WWE was forced to change its plans from a live episode of SmackDown on Friday the 31st, the would-be go-home show before WWE's Day 1 pay-per-view. However, FOX bumped SmackDown to FS1 instead, to make room for their live broadcast of the NYC New Year's Eve celebration. This prompted WWE to change the show's original format and instead make it a review show. With SmackDown's Christmas Eve special already pre-taped, WWE has no other live SmackDown episodes scheduled for 2021.

At this time, FOX has not announced a program to replace its "Toast & Roast" special. This is causing some to speculate that WWE, in theory, could reclaim its original time slot and have a live broadcast on FOX as opposed to FS1, which many assume will do dreadful ratings due to the holiday and content of the show.

As of this writing, neither WWE nor FOX have commented anymore on the matter.

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Multiple WWE personnel test postitive for COVID-19, many fear touring could be affected

According to PWInsider, several members of the WWE staff and roster have tested positive for COVID-19, with others feeling sick and awaiting test results. While this will not directly affect WWE TV programming in the short term, WWE's holiday tour and live broadcast of RAW for Monday could be.

"The Holiday Tour commences this Sunday 12/26 at New York City's Madison Square Garden with the RAW brand and The Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida with the SmackDown roster, just four days away. Beyond MSG and Tampa, there are eight additional tour stops scheduled across both the United States and Canada. In the United States, the tour hits Detroit for a Monday Night RAW broadcast with additional Holiday Tour live events in Orlando, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Buffalo and Washington, DC. PWInsider.com is told that currently, there are no plans to cancel any events in the United States," Mike Johnson wrote on PWInsider.

As noted in the statement above, WWE has not yet made any type of indication that it plans on canceling or altering any holiday events within the United States. The question of course on everyone's mind is which talent could be forced to miss action due to their positive results. Monday's episode of RAW is live, and could be a good indicator of WWE's status in regards to active on-air talent.