Coronavirus: Wrestling competition AEWDynamite returns despite COVID-19 concerns

A televised American wrestling event returned to action on Wednesday night despite concerns over a spike in coronavirus cases across the US.

All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite Fyter Fest is a per-per-view televised wrestling event taking place over two weeks from July 1, in which wrestlers fight while following scripted storylines.

Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.

The first night featured five matches, including a tag team match between "Jurassic Express" against MJF and Wardlow, a singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship, and another tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship.

COVID-19 on rise in US

The event took place despite a spike in coronavirus cases across the US, which recorded more than 50,000 cases in a single day.

California and Texas have emerged as the new COVID-19 hotspots in the country with the highest number of coronavirus cases globally.

States such as Texas have halted planned reopenings in the wake of a surge of increases.

In Texas, rapper Vanilla Ice is exploiting a legal loophole to host a concert for thousands of people on July 4, which is America's Independence Day, despite the rise in cases.

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AEW Dynamite: Viewership low, but trending

According to Forbes, viewership of the event was the lowest ever for AEW Dynamite, with just 633,000 viewers. In comparison, WWE NXT attracted 786,000 viewers.

Despite this, the hashtag AEWDynamite was trending on Twitter on Thursday, with users welcoming the return of the event.

The second night of the event is scheduled for July 8 and features former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Chris Jericho take on Orange Cassidy.

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