 In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.The March 11 episode of NXT was filmed without spectators at the WWE Performance Center facility in Orlando, as three of the four major sports leagues had announced two days earlier that they would close locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure.As other sports cancellations and postponements were being announced, WWE officially announced on March 12 that its weekly programs, beginning with the following night's episode of "SmackDown", would be filmed at the Performance Center with no spectators and only essential staff present.