Philadelphia is hosting WrestleMania 40 this week as the main event for WWE’s fans.
WrestleMania XL, a two-night extravaganza taking place on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7 at Lincoln Financial Field, is the highlight of a week of events that has become a holiday for WWE fans worldwide.
Additional events at Wells Fargo Center will include Smackdown, WWE Hall of Fame ceremony (April 5), NXT Stand and Deliver (April 6), and Raw (April 8).
WWE’s weekly television programs, Friday night Smackdown and Monday night Raw, will take place along with NXT Stand and Deliver, a premium live event for WWE’s developmental brand, NXT.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque revealed, “On April 6 and 7 in Philadelphia, we’re going to take it to a whole new level. It is a new time, it is a new era, and it is an all-new WWE” at the WrestleMania XL Kickoff event in February.
Other fan events will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. WWE World at WrestleMania will be a five-day fan exposition with roundtable discussions, a WWE 2K24 gaming tournament, and memorabilia and autograph sales from Thursday, April 4 through Monday, April 8.
WWE will also host various community outreach events, including a Make-A-Wish event with WWE Superstars, hospital visits, and ‘Be a STAR’ bullying prevention rallies, designed to give back to the local region.
WrestleMania was last held in Philadelphia in 1999 at the then-First Union Center. The main event featured The Rock fighting “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a no disqualification match.
Twenty-five years later, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson still holds main-event status.
The Rock will join forces with Roman Reigns to face Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in the main event of Night 1.
In the Night 2 main event, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Reigns will defend his title against Rhodes, a rematch of the WrestleMania 39 finale.
Both men have a familial connection as sons of former pro wrestlers. Cody Rhodes is the son of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. Reigns is the son of Sika, one half of “The Wild Samoans” tag team in the 1980s, and the real-life cousin of The Rock.
Johnson, the 51-year-old with ties to eastern Pennsylvania – he is a 1990 graduate of Freedom High School in Bethlehem – left WWE for Hollywood in the mid-2000s and has found success in movies, notably in the Fast & Furious series, Jumanji, and Disney’s Moana.
The Rock has only made cameo appearances in WWE since 2014, until February when he returned and joined Reigns’ Bloodline faction.
Since last year’s WrestleMania in Los Angeles, it has been an extraordinary year for WWE with significant changes behind the scenes, including the departure of founder Vince McMahon.
McMahon sold his controlling stake of WWE, valued at $9.1 billion, to Endeavor on April 3, 2023, merging with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is going to make the first WrestleMania under TKO Group Holdings and WWE not being controlled by the McMahon family..
This is the first WrestleMania under the TKO banner and without WWE being under McMahon family control.
McMahon resigned from his position as chairman and CEO on June 17, 2022, following allegations of paying over $12 million in hush money to cover up claims of workplace sexual misconduct.
To oversee the sale to Endeavor, McMahon reinstated himself as WWE chairman and took on the role of TKO executive chairman.
In January, A sex trafficking lawsuit was filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant naming McMahon, longtime executive John Laurinaitis, and WWE as defendants. McMahon then resigned from TKO the next day. In January, WWE reached a $5 billion deal with Netflix to bring their flagship show Raw and other original programming to the streaming service starting in January 2025. Raw has been a Monday night staple on USA Network for 31 years.
With Levesque now in full creative control following McMahon’s departure, the in-ring product is more popular than it has been in over 20 years since the famous ‘Attitude Era’ in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The headline of the WWE Hall of Fame class will be Paul Heyman, who played a key role in elevating pro wrestling in Philadelphia as owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling. The class also includes Bull Nakano, Thunderbolt Patterson, the U.S. Express (Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham), and the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who served as a special guest referee at WrestleMania I.
The Heyman, currently serving as special counsel to Reigns and the Bloodline, is expected to play a significant role throughout WrestleMania. The Rock-Reigns vs. Rhodes-Rollins Night 1 headliner will be only the third time a tag team match has closed WrestleMania. The first instance was at the inaugural event at Madison Square Garden, featuring “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.
Other notable matches include Rollins facing Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship and Rhea Ripley versus Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship.
WWE’s influence will transform Philadelphia into a hub of professional wrestling for the week, with numerous non-WWE events also planned.
WrestleCon, a fan convention, will take place April 4-7 at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown and will feature appearances by Sting, former UFC and WWE champion Ronda Rousey, Ric Flair, and many past and current wrestlers from All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
WrestleCon’s corresponding live event, The Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, is scheduled for Thursday, April 4 at the 2300 Arena, one of many live wrestling events throughout the week.
How to watch WrestleMania XL
When: Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7, 7 p.m. ETWhere:
Lincoln Financial Field
(streaming service)
When: Friday, April 5Where: Wells Fargo CenterTV: Peacock NXT Stand and DeliverTickets
Smackdown
When: Saturday, April 6, 11:30 a.m.Where: Wells Fargo CenterTV: FOXTickets
(streaming service)
When: Monday, April 8Where: Wells Fargo CenterTV: Peacock Other eventsTickets
Raw
WWE World (Pennsylvania Convention Center) WrestleCon Philadelphia (Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown)TV: USATickets
Thursday, April 4 –
April 4-8 – Walemania (Franklin Music Hall)
April 4-7 – Thursday, April 4 –
Mark Hitchcock Memorial Wrestlecon Supershow (2300 Arena) Thursday, April 4 –
UNDERTAKER 1deadMAN SHOW (The Fillmore Philadelphia) Friday, April 5 –
Battleground Championship Wrestling: A Tribute To The Extreme 2 (2300 Arena) Friday, April 5 –
Wrestling REVOLVER & House Of Glory Wrestling (Trinity Center for Urban Life) Friday, April 5 –
Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor 2024 (Liacouras Center) Wrestlemania 40 is in Philadelphia. Here’s everything you need to know.
Friday, April 5 – Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor 2024 (Liacouras Center)
