While the coronavirus pandemic shut down almost all major sporting events worldwide, pro wrestling continued in Florida.  

Since March, WWE have been running shows behind-closed-doors from their Performance Center in Orlando.

Vince McMahon's decision to carry on has widely been criticised, but it seems he's already planning the next step - running shows with a live audience again. 

According to Wrestling Inc, WWE are in the process of executing a four-stage plan to bring crowds back to wrestling events. 

Stage one - which they are currently in - included introducing friends and family of NXT trainees to the audience. 

We saw that on recent tapings of SmackDown and RAW. 

The second phase would be to 'ween out' trainees so the crowd is primarily, or even entirely, made of friends, family and a select group of fans who knew someone in WWE to be able to attend.

Wrestling Inc notes that 'NXT recruits would still have to be available for tapings in case they need more people in the audience'.

Trainees have been used in WWE's audience

Stage three would be to have only fans in the audience at the Performance Center and Full Sail for tapings.

This would likely be 50% capacity, to show people watching at home that things are returning to normal and that 'it's okay to attend live events again'. 

Finally, phase four would see WWE return to touring for at least TV and pay-per-view events in the fall. 

Crowds could be back by fall

That, of course, is not too far away. The plans are optimistic, to say the least, and one source told Wrestling Inc that 'the train is likely to come off the tracks before then'. 

While WWE are putting these ideas in place, things will remain out of their hands.

They will need government legislation on their side in certain states to allow live attendance and of course, a second wave of coronavirus would completely ruin any chance of that happening.