COVID-19 has never made the phrase ‘card subject to change’ more meaningful in the world of pro wrestling, and thanks to the novel coronavirus, the card was indeed subject to change when it came to RoH’s Final Battle this year.
Just a few days ago, Ring of Honor Announced EC3, Bandido, Flamita, and Kenny King had been pulled from Final Battle and the subsequent tapings for RoH. A separate report also detailed how they were going to announce those changes in addition to the stringent testing for COVID-19 Ring of Honor has.
The first stage of that testing involves a pre-flight test. Talent self-tests at home under the supervision of a nurse who oversees the test via Zoom. The sample is then sent to a lab that then gives them the green light to travel to the Ring of Honor tapings and bubble the talent stay in to keep themselves quarantined.
Since Bandido’s removal from RoH has been revealed, Bandido has been announced for a Christmas Day CMLL show where Volador Jr. is scheduled to defend the NWA Welterweight Title against him. This match was scheduled for CMLL’s September 25th Aniversario show, but Bandido had to pull from the show due to having contracted COVID-19.
This announcement was made the same day RoH announced he had been pulled from Final Battle, so when CMLL announced the match on a Facebook livestream, they made a point to emphasize Bandido was not sick despite having failed his pre-flight test.
The stream reported Bandido’s positive test was not specifically for COVID-19, but for the antibodies that indicate his body is or was fighting an infection. Antibodies that fight COVID-19 can apparently stay in a victim’s system for up to six months after contracting COVID-19. While the Maryland State Athletic Commission will allow people to wrestle with the antibodies in their system Bandido’s test exceeded the threshold allowed to compete.
Ring of Honor was aware of Bandido’s infection and knew how long past initial infection he was, and they have indicated they would have allowed it if the decision was strictly in their hands.
Luchablog has reported that Bandido, for his own peace of mind, took a blood test back in Mexico that came back negative. He worked the most recent CMLL tapings that also required a test that additionally came back negative. It has also been said that the MSAC probably does not know about the CMLL show and probably weren’t going to let Bandido wrestle without quarantining there for a week, but that wasn’t possible with RoH’s schedule.
You can watch the announcement for Bandido vs. Volador here, but it is in Spanish.
Check out our official store at PRO WRESTLING TEES, show us your support and buy a shirt. You can visit our store by clicking here.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @BodySlamNet and on Instagram @BodySlamDotNet
Also check us out on Facebook and give us a like and share by clicking HERE.
