Ariya Daivari Recalls Being Told Of Vince McMahon Not Wanting NXT In WWE Locker Room During Pandemic

WWE was hit hard during the pandemic with many superstars confessing to testing positive and reported outbreaks at the Performance Center. 

One change that happened during the pandemic was 205 Live moving to the Capitol Wrestling Center to be taped with NXT tapings rather than being taped at the ThunderDome following SmackDown, which is when the show airs. 

Speaking to Matt Rehwoldt on Straight Shooting, Ariya Daivari recalled NXT moving venues and being told of Vince McMahon not wanting NXT talent to be in the main roster locker room. 

“The whole reason 205 Live got moved back to NXT is because NXT was having a little bit of a COVID issue compared to the main roster. A handful of guys were getting coronavirus and this was around the time where nobody really knew exactly how serious this was. They are having a COVID issue in NXT and I believe someone on the main roster got infected. Word got out and it basically boiled down to, ‘NXT is giving main roster guys coronavirus.’ I forget who I was going to wrestle but we were going to do an episode of 205 Live at the ThunderDome and all of a sudden they came up to me and were like, ‘We’re changing the card. These three guys gotta go.’ They kicked some NXT guys out of the locker room and sent them home because this is when we were still in Orlando for the ThunderDome,” he said.

Daivari continued by saying, “Me and Isaiah Scott had to do a 15-minute match on 20 minutes notice. He was wrestling someone else, I was wrestling someone else, both of our opponents got sent home, so we put this match together. After that, what I was told was Vince was like, ‘No more NXT guys on the main roster during the pandemic.’ Guys were just coming up to 205 Live. He said, ‘No more NXT guys in the locker room.’ I was told NXT was having too many cases of COVID and Vince didn’t want NXT guys in the SmackDown locker room because they might bring COVID.”

Daivari and Scott wrestled on the September 25, 2020 episode of 205 Live, which took place at the ThunderDome. 205 Live would have one more show at the ThunderDome before moving to the Capitol Wrestling Center. 

Daivari was released by the company in June. 

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