Despite Georgia authorities’ attempt to shut down production at last week’s AEW Dynamite taping, the crew was able to film multiple weeks worth of content, including matches in the TNT Championship tournament.
The timing couldn’t be better for the show to take a break from filming live, according to one of the newest members of the AEW roster, Jake “The Snake” Roberts. During an interview with The WrestlingInc Daily’s Nick Hausman, Roberts agreed that wrestling needs to follow the lead of other pro sports organizations and halt production.
“We gotta buckle down,” Roberts said (H/T Pro Wrestling Sheet). “As much as I hate it, we gotta do what’s smart. I’m not a doctor or anything, but that’s all I hear on television. We got to go home. Just go home and stay there until this sh*t’s gone.”
While AEW has been shooting empty arena shows since late March, they have included the roster sitting ringside to form an audience of sorts. Roberts’ decision to attend the March 18 show has now resulted in him being self-quarantined in an Atlanta hotel.
“I’m quarantined in here. I was living with Dallas [DDP] and he was one of the first people to say if you leave, you can’t come back. Well, AEW wanted me to come out so I went and did it but I couldn’t go back to Dallas’ house,” Roberts told Hausman. “He had a baby in the house and nobody needs to be sick around a baby. He took the hard line and said, ‘Dude, if you leave, you can’t come back.’
“I had to do it for AEW as I wanna help these guys. Now I’m paying for it, brother.”
Roberts plans to stay in the hotel room for 3-4 more weeks. As for AEW, the organization is currently slated to crown the first TNT Champion at Double Or Nothing (II) in Las Vegas on May 23. However, with Nevada’s stay-at-home order currently running through April 30 and other similar restrictions extending throughout the United States, AEW’s next filming session opportunity is very much up in the air.