Vince McMahon, other key executives absent from WWE Raw

Vince McMahon and a majority of key WWE executives are not at Monday’s WWE Raw in Detroit.

PWInsider first reported that McMahon, Bruce Prichard, Kevin Dunn, Michael Hayes and Adam Pearce are not there tonight. John Laurinaitis and Ed Koskey are running things behind the scenes instead.

It’s unknown the exact reason for their absence, but a number of talents and personnel tested positive for COVID-19 following the weekend of December 17th. While WWE didn’t officially announce any specific absences, the company saw a number of changes for live events that kicked off their Holiday Tour Sunday that will see WWE run two shows a day for five straight days.

PWInsider also reported Monday that WWE producers “were hit hard” by COVID-19, leaving the company with half of their usual crew. They reported that Chris Park, Shane Helms, Molly Holly, Jason Jordan and Petey Williams covered tonight’s taping with Jordan taking lead. Jordan and Helms were in charge at Sunday’s MSG house show while TJ Wilson and Kenn Doane are taking lead with the SmackDown crew this week.

Big E, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Zelina Vega, Bobby Lashley, Shinsuke Nakamura and Xavier Woods all missed Sunday house shows. Not all of them tested positive as WWE is trying to risk key personnel not missing Saturday’s Day 1 pay-per-view which also could be the reason for the executives’ absence Monday.

Our Dave Meltzer confirmed a Fightful report Monday that WWE will no longer test talent for COVID-19. Meltzer said it’s believed WWE is following CDC recommendations for a five-day quarantine period, meaning any talents who tested positive will be available for Saturday’s Day 1 if the positive tests were from last Saturday or before. Otherwise, any talents would need negative tests on two consecutive days with the first test allowed on day five following the first positive test.

Meltzer noted that masks are now mandatory backstage with fines imposed for talent or anyone that works backstage. They are also recommending vaccine boosters, but not requiring them.