Legendary Wrestling Journalist Bill Apter Talks Dealing With Coronavirus Pandemic At 74
Vince McMahon has always been a fan of the phrase "The Show Must Go On" and that's the case with WrestleMania 36. The event has been relocated to the PC where it will take place without an audience.
Longtime wrestling journalist Bill Apter was asked if he's surprised that McMahon is pressing on with the event when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily.
"I'm Mr. Optomist with this business so I'm looking at it more, not in a business standpoint, but it would be great to sit home and watch three hours of this stuff. WrestleMania is made up of a million, zillion moving parts and now it's down to just a handful of parts," said Apter before adding that the Hall of Fame should be a studio show without an audience.
"If you think about this, the NWO ? most of those guys live in Florida. Davey Boy's son is up in Canada. Jushin Liger, I don't know where he's residing so he could do that remotely. The Bella Twins could do it remotely so there's no reason why you can't."
Apter then added that it's also a good idea for WWE to hold the enshrinement ceremony on SummerSlam weekend.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Apter is as deserving as any contributor yet he has yet to get the call. Apter discussed his relationship with WWE.
"I have a fan who's one of my favorite people and he's always saying that Triple H is a historian so how could he not put me in the Hall of Fame? I wanna clear something up ? Triple H has always been terrific to me. He's always appreciated what I did and what I continue to do. I have no negative things to say about the way he's ever treated me. He's always been a gentleman and if it wasn't for him, I never would have been on the WWE Network on all those shows," stated Apter.
"And he's a helluva color man as we saw on SmackDown."
Those most at risk for coronavirus are the elderly or those with pre-existing medical conditions. Vince McMahon is 75 years old so Apter was asked if he thinks McMahon will still be in the Gorilla position at Mania.
"I'm sure he'd be backstage. Nothing will stop him," said Apter. "In terms of his age, 75 years old, he'll still be there. He'll be back there going, 'Damn this coronavirus. Nothing's stopping me now!' He's actually gonna tell the coronavirus, 'YOU'RE FIRED!!'
Apter then talked about how he's handing the virus as he's the same age as McMahon.
"I'm staying away from any kind of crowded situations. I'm going to CVS and the supermarket but in terms of my day work, I'm doing a lot of that virtually," said Apter. "I'm healthy but you never know as healthy people are getting this to. In my lifetime, I've never seen anything like this and I feel like we're in a bad Sci-Fi movie."
He added that he can't believe people aren't heeding the health recommendations when it comes to social distancing.
"There's a local Mexican restaurant in my neighborhood and there were lines of people waiting to get in there. The restaurant was packed," revealed Apter. "People were walking in there with kids and I'm like, 'How can they do this?' So the area I'm in in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania ? which is a hotspot of coronavirus ? all the restaurants are takeout or delivery only. You've gotta be certain that if somebody is delivering it to your house and they don't put it on the ground, they better be wearing gloves."
Bill Apter's book "Is Wrestling Fixed? I Didn't Know It Was Broken!" is available for purchase everywhere books are sold. For more information, or to purchase your own copy, please visit click HERE. Apter's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.