Wrestling

WWE will use fines to enforce new coronavirus mask policy

WWE is going a step further in its coronavirus safety measures – including fines.

The company informed its staff and on-screen talent Friday afternoon that it will begin to enforce the wearing of protective masks. Anyone working a television taping – excluding performers working on camera – must wear a mask at all times or risk a $500 fine. The penalty increases to $1,000 thereafter for anyone with a second offense.

PW Insider was the first to report the new policy, which a WWE spokesman confirmed to The Post.

The intensified rules come after multiple WWE employees, including announcer Renee Young, interviewer Kayla Braxton, and backstage producers Jamie Noble and Adam Pearce, tested positive for coronavirus over the past three weeks. The four all publicly announced their diagnosis.

WWE officially began testing employees for coronavirus before shows after a developmental wrestler who was in the company’s Performance Center in Orlando, tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-June. Before that, the company was issuing wellness and temperature checks to anyone entering its closed sets and had people adhere to social distancing guidelines backstage.

Over the past months, the developmental talent and rare friends and family members around the ring – behind hockey-style Plexiglas – were not wearing masks on camera, but were never told not to by the company. Since the outbreak of positive tests in WWE, a large number of “crowd” members had begun wearing masks during television tapings. The state of Florida has become a hot spot for the coronavirus, reporting 9,488 new cases on Friday.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s executive vice president, global talent strategy and development, told The Post in June that the company’s policy is constantly adapting to the current situation it faces.

“That’s what the last few months have been, us doing the best we can in this environment, with first and foremost keeping everybody’s health and safety in the forefront and evolving to however we can make that the first priority,” Levesque said.