From April 25, WWE will be returning to a pre-taped television schedule.

All episodes of RAW, SmackDown, NXT, Main Event and 205 Live will be recorded until at least July 8. 

The move backtracks on the call Vince McMahon made little over a week ago, which saw the company push on with live shows. 

Per Wrestling Inc, one reason for the shift is to protect the safety of staff and talent involved, reducing the amount of time they have to travel to the Performance Center. 

WWE are also said to be doing 'pandemic-level cleaning' at their facility in Orlando and have put a number of measures in place.

Everyone is wearing facemasks while not performing, staff are being medically screened before entering any closed set, matches are being filmed in waves and social distancing is being followed outside of performances.   

It's certainly reassuring to hear WWE are putting the safety of their staff and talent first. 

But according to Wrestling Observer Radio, there's another reason McMahon has decided to return to a pre-taped schedule - money. 

NBC Universal and FOX - the companies that hold WWE's TV contracts - have said they will not cut money if shows are pre-taped. 

There had been previous suggestion that revenue was in danger if WWE couldn't hit a certain quota of live broadcasts for each network. 

But with the revenue now safe, McMahon made the call to return to taping shows in advance. 

This week's RAW, Smackdown and NXT programming will be the last aired live for the foreseeable future. 

Despite taking more precautions, WWE has still been heavily criticised for pushing on during the coronavirus pandemic. 

But now they have room to work with a pre-taped schedule, it's hard to see any weekly shows being shelved.