WWE, Esports highlight live sporting events still taking place

Zach Yearwood, Sports Reporter

Although most sporting events have been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still some events occurring that you can watch.

WrestleMania 36

Death, taxes and Vince McMahon looking to make money. Despite practically every other sports organization suspending play, World Wrestling Entertainment has continued to hold its weekly events: Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown. Professional wrestling’s biggest night of the year is no exception.

The WWE has temporarily stopped touring the country and has instead opted to shoot all shows without a live audience at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

The company decided to do the same with Wrestlemania 36. Instead of a fully packed Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the pay-per-view will now be held in the WWE’s training facility and span two nights starting Saturday at 7 p.m.

Some matches on the card include Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler competing for the Raw Women’s Championship, Edge vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match and the main event: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship.

NBA 2K King of the Hill Tournament

Many of us miss the NBA and its superstars. Luckily, we will get to see some of them this weekend competing in the NBA 2K Players Tournament.

On Tuesday evening, 2K, the company behind the widely successful NBA 2K video game series, announced the bracket for a one-on-one tournament that will air on ESPN beginning Friday April 3 at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Players listed in the bracket include Kevin Durant, Trae Young and Donovan Mitchell.

“The winner of the event will receive $100,000 to give to a charity in support of the coronavirus relief efforts,” per ESPN.

League of Legends Spring Playoffs

The North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and League of Legends European Championship (LEC) will both begin their spring playoffs this weekend.

Zach Yearwood
League Of Legends is played on a PC.

The popular online video game stopped playing their matches in an arena and instead have their players and shoutcasters working from home.

This format will continue at least through the end of the Spring Split. Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, also announced that they would move the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) tournament from May to July in a March press release.

The first five-game series of the Spring Split playoffs will begin for the LEC on Friday April 3 at noon EST and the first round will run through Sunday. The LCS will start Saturday April 4 at around 4 p.m. EST and will continue on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Games can be viewed on streaming platforms including Twitch and YouTube.

Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC) Champions Cup

Hardcore fans of the long-running Pokémon video game series know about its surging competitive scene. 

YouTuber/Twitch streamer aDrive and world champion WolfeGlick have teamed up to create their own VGC tournament during the pandemic. 

The announcement was made by the pair in a YouTube video published on March 27th. Signups for the tournament opened on March 29th and quickly gained traction. On Tuesday night, aDrive tweeted an announcement saying that the Champions Cup quickly became “the biggest VGC tournament ever.”

Pokémon is easy enough for casual fans or even first-time viewers to understand what is going on and enjoy the depth of the strategies used by the players. 

If you own Pokémon Sword or Shield and you think you have a pretty good team, you can try your luck in the tournament as well. Entry is $12 and begins Saturday April 4 at 10:00 AM EST.

It will likely be streamed on aDrive’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

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