🏆 WWE’s Triple H Talks WrestleMania 36

WWE knows it has a responsibility to fans this weekend at the Showcase of the Immortals. Just ask the man himself, Paul “Triple H” Levesque. [View in browser]( In today’s FOX Sports Insider: WrestleMania is a show too big for just one night, in a time when we all desperately need the entertainment WWE provides ... we dive into the NFL’s unprecedented spending spree on quarterbacks ... and we get ready for what should be a pleasantly full weekend of sports viewing. Paul “Triple H” Levesque has set himself a pretty monumental task. Amid the most difficult and uncertain of times that the collective world has known for generations, the executive vice president of the WWE wants to make you forget about your problems. Levesque knows the distraction won’t last, that the worries and concerns and stark realities for America’s public aren’t going to suddenly disappear. He doesn’t have the magic solution that might quell COVID-19 and slow its inexorable spread. However, over two nights this weekend, the 50-year-old performer-turned-executive and his organization will endeavor to use WrestleMania, the biggest event of the WWE calendar ([available on FOX Sports pay-per-view]( Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. ET) to fill some of the entertainment void caused by the ravages of the coronavirus. [STORY IMAGE 1] “Now, more than ever, entertainment is needed,” Levesque told me in a telephone conversation this week. “We want to be there for people, to be an escape and a release and something to take their mind off things amid all this. “What we try to do is to put smiles on people’s faces and allow them to live in this fantasized moment. At this time, we have an added responsibility, because there is so little else happening.” In Gladiator, Russell Crowe’s Maximus famously asked: “Are you not entertained?” And, in truth, right now we are not. Not as sports fans. Not like we are used to. America’s sports lovers are usually a spoiled bunch, aren’t we? On a typical basis, there is never much of a wait from one great event to another. [STORY IMAGE 2] The Super Bowl gives way to the madness of March. Opening Day and the Masters guide us towards the NBA and NHL playoffs. Summers bring Olympics and major soccer tournaments. And, then, football comes around again. The last time anyone heard someone complain that there just wasn’t enough sports on television, well, let’s just say the bottom of NBA shorts still sat closer to the waistline than to the knee. Since the rapid and comprehensive shutdown of major events, pretty much every league is trying its darnedest to cater to its fans. The NBA has players squaring off against each other on video games. Virtual racing across NASCAR and other motorsport disciplines is booming. The engagement from the superstars and fans alike has been uplifting. But it is not the same. WWE finds itself with an opportunity but also, like Levesque said, a responsibility. As scripted entertainment, it is unbound by some of the restrictions other sports face. The organization has the luxury of a performance institute in Orlando, which is where WrestleMania has been moved to from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. A small skeleton staff and crew can be used, with no fans in attendance. [STORY IMAGE 3] Athletes will cycle in and out of WWE's Performance Center to reduce the number of people in the building at one time, in order to remain within Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Medical screenings will be set up and some segments have been taped in advance. Furthermore, the decision to spread the event over two nights, for the first time in history, allows extra flexibility in ensuring any risk is kept to a minimum. “It has been a whirlwind,” Levesque said. “Three weeks ago, none of this was a factor at all. Then it started changing, and changing almost on a minute by minute basis. We would make a decision and then another report would come in that changed everything. You have to rethink on the fly.” Yet things never quite got to a point where WWE was left with no option but to cancel. And the more the show stayed alive, the more Levesque, Chairman Vince McMahon and his athletes became determined to put it on. Trying to predict the viewing figures for Saturday and Sunday is a fool’s errand because there has never been a situation like this. WrestleMania always does a huge number, but this one could smash normal expectations, with big-name Superstars such as John Cena, The Undertaker, and Goldberg on the card, alongside a litany of modern Superstars who have taken sports entertainment to a new level, like Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, The Fiend, and Becky Lynch, just to name a few. [STORY IMAGE 4] Moreover, fans will watch in droves because right now, the public needs some kind of connection with normalcy. Sports is far, far less important than the fight being undertaken by our doctors and scientists and policymakers, but it still provides one of the anchors of life for millions. So, while wrestling fans will salivate over matchups like Brock Lesnar v. Drew McIntyre and The Undertaker v. AJ Styles, many who do not usually follow WWE will still get a kick out of the tremendous athleticism and the unashamedly over-the-top storylines. While we sit in our homes and wonder what comes next, it is okay — advisable, even — to take a couple of hours over the weekend to laugh along with event host Rob Gronkowski and to cheer for new favorites and smile at the outrageous storylines. WWE is not traditional sports, and that’s the whole point. It is made to be larger than life. As life for so many is being squeezed into a shell of its former self, maybe it is just what we need. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston (via First Things First): “It’s definitely a lot different. We thrive off the crowd. Regardless, we always say we put on the best show if you have one person in the crowd of you have a million peiple in the crowd. The energy from us is always the same. You always want to go all out. We take a lot of pride in being able to entertain people throughout any kind of tough time that they might be having. It's important to be able to provide a sense of levity, and to be on this WresleMania [card], it's probably the most unique WrestleMania.” Ryan Satin, WWE Backstage: “WWE has made their intent evident in that they feel an obligation to entertain fans in the safest manner possible during a difficult and confusing time. People are going through a lot right now; whether it be financially, medically, or whatever. Having WrestleMania to watch will be a welcome distraction from the real world (and the fact that we’re all stuck inside with a ton of snacks and not a lot of toilet paper).” Tom Beasley, The Ringer: “WWE is aware of what’s happening, and it’s leaning into it in a unique way by turning this WrestleMania into a strange sandbox for the creative staff’s oddest ideas. This year’s Showcase of the Immortals has the feel of a brainstorming session in which every unhinged notion scrawled in Sharpie on the conference room flipboard has been thrown into a turkey baster and spewed out as a bizarre entertainment homunculus. And yet, it’s exactly that which makes it a must-watch spectacular.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - Over the past 12 months, NFL teams have committed an astonishing $900 million to quarterbacks on extensions and new deals. [ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler digs into]( the why and how of the NFL’s QB spending spree. - High school seniors around the country are making peace with the fact their final seasons are already over. [One of those seniors, Bennett Solomon, beautifully explains]( those emotions at the student newspaper for Walt Whitman High School. - Being a fair-weather sports fan has historically been worthy of derision. [But SB Nation’s Tom Ziller lays out]( why he has embraced making the transition from obsessive to front-runner, while still loving the entirety of sports. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( As we discussed last week, [many big-time sports facilities are transitioning]( to help serve the public in the face of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Friday morning, famous tennis star Billie Jean King shared this photo of the courts at the site of the U.S. Open being used to prepare food and distribute supplies for patients, workers, and their families. Other parts of the larger facility (which bears her name) are being turned into a temporary hospital, as well, reportedly with 350 beds for non-ICU patients from nearby Elmhurst Hospital, which has been on the frontline of the coronavirus response. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] MLB Safe at Home (FS1, 6 p.m. ET) KB, D-Train, Swish and Ken Rosenthal discuss the latest in MLB, break down the potential impact of doubleheaders when baseball returns, answer fan questions, and relive Swisher’s epic home DJ session. (Yes, you read that right.) WWE Friday Night SmackDown (FOX, 8 p.m. ET) It’s the last stop on the road to WrestleMania! John Cena responds to Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House match proposal, and The Usos and The New Day will stop by “Miz TV” ahead of their Triple Threat Ladder Match for the SmackDown tag titles at this weekend’s Show of Shows. WWE WrestleMania 36 (Saturday and Sunday, FOX PPV, 7 p.m. ET) Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley. The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles. Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler. And much, much more. This year’s Showcase of the Immortals is an epic, two-night event — one that you absolutely cannot miss. FOX Sports Ultimate Fan Bracket: College Basketball Edition (Saturday, FS1, 11 p.m. ET) FOX Sports reveals its tournament bracket to crown the best fanbase in college basketball. Hoops experts Mark Titus and Tate Frazier unveil the seeds and explain how fans’ votes will determine the ultimate champion. NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series: Bristol (Sunday, FOX, 1 p.m ET) If you’ve missed the first two editions of iRacing on FOX and FS1, this weekend is the time to remedy your egregious mistake. Check out all of the exciting virtual racing action, starting with the all-new heats, live, as Rob Gronkowski and WWE Superstar Mojo Rawley give the command to start engines! [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Aaron Judge to win 2020 American League MVP: +1000 While we patiently await the opening of the 2020 MLB season, whenever that might safely take place, we feel like we should properly prepare — and that starts with making a healthy wager on MVP. Could this be the season Aaron Judge breaks through on that front? At 10-to-1, it might be worth taking a longing look at the Yankees slugger before he and his cohorts are back on the diamond. [WHAT THEY SAID] "You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy." — Arthur Ashe [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download the FOX Sports app for live scores and streaming [App Store]( [Google Play]( Available on: [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] [tvOS] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] Forwarded this message? [Sign up](. 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