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WWE WrestleMania 37 Date Plans, McIntyre COVID Update, Bayley Wants in Dusty Classic

Mike Chiari

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

   

WrestleMania 37 Date Possibly Moving Back

WWE's WrestleMania 37 reportedly may not be taking place on March 27, as was originally scheduled.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), the plan is to move WrestleMania back two weeks to April 11, 2021.

WrestleMania 37 was supposed to occur at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, but that may not be happening either. In October, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Liam Winnard of WrestleTalk) reported that WrestleMania would instead be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

WWE has yet to publicly confirm a change of location or date for WrestleMania.

Last year's WrestleMania 36 was supposed to happen at Raymond James Stadium, but early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made to have it at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with no fans in attendance instead.

While the pandemic is still raging, sporting events in multiple states have been given permission to have a limited amount of fans in attendance, so WWE could look into holding WrestleMania 37 somewhere that could accommodate some fans.

Every WWE Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-view has been held at the Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, since December, meaning it could be an option to hold WrestleMania, but the Rays are scheduled for a home game against the New York Yankees on April 11.

   

Update on McIntyre's COVID-19 Diagnosis

WWE announced on this week's episode of Raw that WWE champion Drew McIntyre tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Meltzer (h/t Upton), McIntyre has "no idea" how he contracted COVID-19 since he "very rarely leaves the house if not for work."

Meltzer added that McIntyre tested negative for COVID-19 before retaining the WWE title over Keith Lee in the main event of Raw on Jan. 4, and the belief is he was not COVID-19 positive during that match.

While McIntyre wasn't there live on this week's Raw, he did address the fans in a video, noting that he was asymptomatic and self-isolating.

McIntyre also accepted a challenge laid down by Goldberg one week earlier, meaning the plan is still in place for McIntyre to defend the WWE Championship against Goldberg at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Jan. 31.

Although McIntyre vs. Goldberg is somewhat out of left field, it is a huge match between one of WWE's biggest current stars and one of the most popular wrestlers of all time.

If McIntyre is cleared to wrestle at the Rumble, it will go a long way toward strengthening the card and adding another match that fans want to see aside from just the men's and women's Rumbles.

   

Bayley Asks to Be Included in Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

Bayley took to Twitter on Friday and asked NXT found Triple H to allow her to take place in the first-ever women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic:

The Dusty Classic has been held every year since 2015 with the exception of 2017, but this year marks the first time a women's version is taking place.

A full bracket has yet to be released for the women's tournament and only four teams have been announced thus far: Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez, Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, and Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon.

In the women's tournament featured 16 teams like the men's tournament, then perhaps Triple H will consider dipping into the main roster talent, as there aren't 32 female wrestlers who appear regularly on NXT TV.

Another option would be for Triple H to use the tournament to introduce some new talent that hasn't necessarily been used on television yet.

Adding someone like Bayley to the tournament would be huge in terms of increasing interest, as she is one of the most successful women's wrestlers in WWE history.

Bayley is the first-ever WWE Women's Grand Slam champion, as she has held the NXT, Raw and SmackDown Women's titles, as well as the WWE Women's Tag Team titles.

She is especially adept at tag team wrestling, winning the Women's Tag Team Championships with Sasha Banks twice.

Triple H has yet to answer Bayley publicly, but her request is something worth plenty of consideration.

   

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

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