WrestleMania 39

WrestleMania 39 (marketed as ''WrestleMania Goes Hollywood'') is the upcoming 39th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event is scheduled to be held as a two-night event, taking place on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California—the original location of WrestleMania 37 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to be relocated.

WrestleMania 39 will be the first since WrestleMania 21 to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh held in the state of California (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, 21, and 31). This will also be the first WrestleMania to take place under Paul "Triple H" Levesque's creative control, following the retirement of Vince McMahon in July 2022; Mr. McMahon had served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company since 1982 and created WrestleMania in 1985, although he returned to the company in January 2023 as Executive Chairman, but with no involvement in booking the event.

Production

Background

WrestleMania is WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first PPV produced and was also the company's first major event available via livestreaming when WWE began using that broadcasting outlet in 2014. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. Along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, it is one of the company's five biggest events of the year, referred to as the "Big Five". WrestleMania is ranked the sixth-most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. Much like the Super Bowl, cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. WrestleMania 39 will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. In addition to airing on traditional PPV, it will be available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets.

On February 10, 2020, WWE announced that SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California would host WrestleMania 37 on March 28, 2021, with the event being promoted as "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood". Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had originally pushed for SoFi Stadium to host WrestleMania in 2022, so it could promote the event as having a larger overall attendance than Super Bowl LVI (which was held at the same venue in February of that year). However, Inglewood city officials preferred that WrestleMania be held in 2021 to prepare for Super Bowl LVI.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, however, the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' reported that WWE was considering relocating WrestleMania 37, as the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in California made it increasingly unlikely that the event could be held with in-person spectators on the scheduled date. WWE had reportedly planned to relocate the event to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, which was originally scheduled to host WrestleMania 36 before the onset of the pandemic forced it to be scaled back and held at WWE's Orlando training facility instead. In late-September 2020, Florida governor Ron DeSantis lifted all mandatory capacity restrictions in the state, although sports teams continued to voluntarily impose capacity restrictions based on federal guidance. California allowed outdoor stadiums to re-open to in-state visitors only beginning April 1, 2021, with capacity restricted based on case positivity in individual regions.

On January 16, 2021, WWE announced that WrestleMania 37 would in fact be relocated to Tampa. Along with this announcement, WWE revealed that SoFi Stadium would still host a WrestleMania, but it would instead be WrestleMania 39 in April 2023—WrestleMania 38 was announced for AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in 2022. WrestleMania 39 will be the first since WrestleMania 21 to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh held in the state of California (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, 21, and 31). WrestleMania 39 in turn also adopted the "Hollywood" marketing originally intended for WrestleMania 37. The event was originally announced to be held solely on Sunday, April 2, 2023, but during WrestleMania 38, it was revealed that like the previous three WrestleMania events, WrestleMania 39 was expanded to a two-night event, scheduled for Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2.

Tickets for the event went on sale on August 12, 2022. WWE also announced that WrestleMania Priority Passes would be available beginning July 22. These passes include premier seating, a dedicated stadium entrance, premium hospitality offerings, and meet-and-greets with current WWE wrestlers and legends. Ticket sales for WrestleMania 39 set a company record, with over 90,000 tickets sold within the first 24 hours, more than any other WWE event in history.

WrestleMania was created by WWE owner Vince McMahon. In July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement, after having served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company since 1982. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, along with WWE president Nick Khan, became co-CEOs of WWE, while Stephanie also became the Chairwoman. Vince's son-in-law—Stephanie's husband— Paul "Triple H" Levesque took over creative control. Stephanie would resign as co-CEO and Chairwoman in January 2023, and Vince would return as Executive Chairman while Khan became the sole CEO. Although Vince returned in an executive role, Triple H maintained complete creative control of booking WWE's storylines.

Other WrestleMania Week events

As part of the WrestleMania festivities during the week of the event, WWE will hold a number of events throughout the week. The night before WrestleMania 39 on March 31, WWE will kick off WrestleMania Weekend with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of ''SmackDown''. Immediately after ''SmackDown'', the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony will commence. The day of WrestleMania Saturday, WWE's developmental brand NXT will hold its annual WrestleMania Week event, Stand & Deliver. WrestleMania Week will conclude with the ''Raw'' after WrestleMania on April 3. All of these events will be held live at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles.

Storylines

The event will include matches that each result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, ''Monday Night Raw'' and ''Friday Night SmackDown''.

Matches

References

External links

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{{WWEPPV, WrestleMania

2023 WWE Network events
2023 WWE pay-per-view events
2023 in Los Angeles County, California
April 2023 events in the United States
Events in Inglewood, California
WrestleMania
Scheduled professional wrestling shows
Professional wrestling in California
Sports competitions in Inglewood, California
2023 in professional wrestling