ECW was a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that was established in May 2006 and discontinued in February 2010. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers that were assigned to ECW primarily appeared on the brand's weekly television program, ECW . The brand was established as a relaunch of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003.
174-525: WrestleMania XXIV was the 24th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brand divisions . The event took place on March 30, 2008, at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida and was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida. It
348-454: A WWE 2K24 gaming tournament, live podcast recordings, meet-and-greets with wrestlers, and a large merchandise store with various memorabilia honoring WrestleMania's 40-year history. ECW (WWE brand) The brand operated during the second half of WWE's first brand extension period (2002–2011), and was one of WWE's three main brands, along with Raw and SmackDown . In addition to the brand's television program, ECW wrestlers competed on
522-505: A 24-man Interpromotional Battle Royal , an elimination style match where the last person remaining was the winner, to win an ECW Championship match against Chavo Guerrero later that night. The event officially began with John Legend singing a rendition of " America the Beautiful ". The first match was a Belfast Brawl between Finlay and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), a match in which there were no disqualifications or countouts and
696-507: A No Disqualification match , professional boxer Floyd "Money" Mayweather defeated Big Show . The other featured undercard matches saw CM Punk win the inter-promotional Money in the Bank ladder match and a retirement match in which Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair , leading to Flair's departure from the WWE and a period of retirement from active wrestling. Tickets for the event commenced sale to
870-666: A five stars rating from sports journalist Dave Meltzer . In Night 2's main event, Roman Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes, after Reigns' cousin Solo Sikoa interfered on his behalf. WrestleMania XL took place on April 6 and 7, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Following precedent, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included
1044-621: A ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship also headlined, in which Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels . Bret having been defeated earlier won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Yokozuna in the main event. Bret is the first wrestler in WrestleMania history to lose his first match and come back to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. After failing to capture
1218-408: A No Holds Barred Street Fight, Charlotte defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to win the inaugural WWE Women's Championship , Chris Jericho defeated AJ Styles in a singles match, The League of Nations (Sheamus, Rusev, and Alberto Del Rio) (with King Barrett ) defeated The New Day ( Xavier Woods , Kofi Kingston , and Big E ) in a six-man tag match, Zack Ryder won a 7-man ladder match for
1392-601: A WrestleMania in a critically acclaimed match, which received the 2009 Match of the Year award by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . The WWE Intercontinental Championship was defended at the event for the first time since WrestleMania X8 with Rey Mysterio defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield. John Cena defeated Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship also involving
1566-444: A bout that received much acclaim, and The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. The match between Hart and Austin is considered by many fans as one of the best professional wrestling matches of all time and has been voted by IGN as the greatest match in WrestleMania history, and was number 1 among their list of top 20 WrestleMania matches of all time. Various other sources also names
1740-774: A brand value of US$ 245 million in 2019 behind the Super Bowl , Summer Olympics , NCAA Final Four , the FIFA World Cup , and the College Football Playoffs . For five of the first six WrestleManias, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators (the exception being WrestleMania 2, which was split among three venues and had Monsoon, Ventura, and Vince McMahon split up with guest commentators), while Bobby Heenan , Gene Okerlund , Lord Alfred Hayes , and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary. In
1914-588: A casket match, and Mickie James defeat Trish Stratus to win the original WWE Women's Championship . At WrestleMania 23 , the Money in the Bank match expanded to include eight men and would include stars from the new ECW brand, which was won by Mr. Kennedy . John Cena would go on to retain his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, while The Undertaker would win the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista. Representing Donald Trump , ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga , who represented Vince McMahon, in
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#17328906268722088-550: A combination of punches, which caused Big Show to bleed from the nose and mouth. The following night on Raw , Big Show challenged Mayweather to a wrestling match, which Mayweather accepted. As part of the storyline, Big Show arranged an exhibition match with fighter Brandon Hill, who was similar in size and stature to Mayweather. Unimpressed with Big Show's display of dominance over Hill, Mayweather told Big Show that "at WrestleMania, I'm going to break your jaw". At their weigh-in for their WrestleMania match, Big Show threw Mayweather into
2262-438: A contract, which guarantees a world title match at the time and place of the winner's choosing for up to one year, including the following year's WrestleMania. This lasted until 2010 when the Money in the Bank pay-per-view was introduced and thus the Money in the Bank ladder match was retired from WrestleMania. Forbes named WrestleMania one of the world's most valuable sports event brands from 2014 to 2019, ranking it sixth with
2436-486: A crowd of wrestlers to emphasise the disparity in size. On the February 25 episode of Raw , 2008 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee Ric Flair challenged Shawn Michaels to a match at WrestleMania. Michaels accepted after some reluctance, knowing that due to a previous announcement from WWE chairman Mr. McMahon the next match Flair lost would result in his forced retirement. Flair said that "it would be an honor for [him] to retire at
2610-577: A four-day event held at convention centers and arenas in the host city of that year's WrestleMania. For WrestleMania XL in April 2024, WWE will relaunch the event under a new name of WWE World at WrestleMania, which will be done in partnership with Fanatics Events and held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The event will run from Thursday, April 4 until Monday, April 8. The five-day event includes interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers,
2784-595: A future WrestleMania will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of a partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp, which will see the 2025 Royal Rumble and a future SummerSlam held at the stadium. Over the years, WrestleMania has featured many celebrity appearances with varying levels of involvement. The main event of the first WrestleMania showcased numerous celebrities along with
2958-440: A ladder, see-sawing with another ladder, Jericho flipped the other one and Morrison landed on the ring-ropes groin -first. Jericho even performed a Codebreaker on Punk using a ladder. In the end, Jericho and Punk fought each other on a ladder, but Punk trapped Jericho's one leg in the ladder's steps and retrieved the briefcase to win the match. This was an interpromotional match. Next after that match, Howard Finkel introduced
3132-758: A live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday April 5, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 6, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, which also hosted the post WrestleMania edition of Raw on Monday April 8. The main event of Night 1 saw The Bloodline ( The Rock and Roman Reigns ) defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins . This match determined
3306-504: A match billed as the "Battle of the Billionaires" and arbitrated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This was also the last WrestleMania where the original WWE Women's Championship was defended when Melina defeated Ashley Massaro in a lumberjills match. At WrestleMania XXIV , Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a highly acclaimed retirement match, while the Money in the Bank ladder match included seven participants from all three brands which
3480-578: A match booked at Backlash , and after a confrontation between Michaels and Chris Jericho, Jericho was later added into the match as a Special Guest Referee . Michaels won with a superkick. The feud between Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H continued after WrestleMania with the added involvement of John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) leading to a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match between all four at Backlash. At Backlash, Triple H won his seventh WWE Championship by last pinning Orton. With Matt Hardy's return at WrestleMania, his feud with Montel Vontavious Porter over
3654-542: A match officiated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, while Triple H failed in his attempt to avenge Shawn Michaels' loss to The Undertaker from a year prior. This was the first WrestleMania in history in which both the World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion were able to successfully retain their titles. World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated the challenger Alberto Del Rio in what would be Edge's last match before his retirement on April 11, and The Rock closed out
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#17328906268723828-460: A pair of brass knuckles to hit Big Show in the face. As a result, Big Show was knocked out as he could not answer the referee's ten count , and Mayweather was declared the winner. The main event of the night saw Edge putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against The Undertaker . This was The Undertaker's first WrestleMania main event in 11 years, last main eventing against Sycho Sid at WrestleMania 13 . The early going of
4002-467: A process they called the " brand extension ". The WWF divided itself into two de facto wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures . Raw and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split came about as a result of the WWF purchasing its biggest competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW); and
4176-560: A series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers belonged to either the Raw , SmackDown , or ECW brand – storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. The predominant rivalry scripted into WrestleMania on the Raw brand was between Randy Orton , John Cena , and Triple H , over the WWE Championship . At
4350-734: A six-man tag team match, and Cesaro won the first-ever André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by body-slamming Big Show over the top rope in similar fashion to Hulk Hogan bodyslamming André the Giant at WrestleMania III. WrestleMania 31 was held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California , on March 29, 2015. Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, with Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in
4524-483: A small festival to celebrate WrestleMania IV, which included autograph signings, a brunch, and a 5K run; the event was held again in 1989 for WrestleMania V. In 1992, a festival was held the day of WrestleMania VIII which included a WWF superstar look-alike contest and a tournament for the WWF WrestleFest arcade game. In 1993, the WWF held a "WrestleMania Brunch" the day of WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace , during
4698-703: A sumo contest at WrestleMania 21, and fought professional welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. at WrestleMania XXIV . Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi competed in a 6-person tag team match teaming with Trish Stratus and John Morrison in a winning effort against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool ( Layla and Michelle McCool ), at WrestleMania XXVII . The event has also featured live musical performances. Ray Charles , Aretha Franklin , Gladys Knight , Willie Nelson , Reba McEntire , Little Richard , Boyz II Men , Ashanti , Boys Choir of Harlem , Michelle Williams , John Legend , Nicole Scherzinger , Fantasia Barrino , and Keri Hilson have each renditioned
4872-401: A television camera while the referee was knocked down. When he proceeded to deliver a Tombstone Piledriver to Undertaker, Undertaker countered it into his own version and successfully delivered it to Edge for a two-count. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder came to the ring for Edge's aid, but Undertaker took them out. Because of their distraction, Edge was able to execute a spear on Undertaker, but
5046-497: A triple threat match. WrestleMania 38 took place on April 2 and 3, 2022, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As most COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted by that point, this was the first full capacity WrestleMania since 2019, and established a new format for WrestleMania Weekend—a special live WrestleMania SmackDown featuring the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (a recent WrestleMania night staple) immediately followed by
5220-465: A two-night event. WrestleMania 37 took place on April 10 and 11 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the original location of WrestleMania 36, to allow for fan attendance—making it the first WWE event to have ticketed fans in attendance during the pandemic, though to a limited capacity of 25,000 for each night. In the main event for WrestleMania 37 Night 1, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win
5394-457: A wrestling ring and commentate a wrestling match. In 2001, WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck and check out special WWE vehicles. From 2002, WrestleMania Axxess would be extended to a three-day event (March 14–16) and would be held at
WrestleMania XXIV - Misplaced Pages Continue
5568-588: Is once again two choices: the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. A women's Royal Rumble match was introduced in 2018, with the winner receiving the option of challenging for either the WWE Raw Women's Championship or WWE SmackDown Women's Championship , which were renamed as the WWE Women's Championship and Women's World Championship, respectively, in June 2023. NXT 's championships,
5742-634: Is the company's flagship event and along with Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and Money in the Bank , it is referred to as one of the "Big Five", WWE's five biggest annual events of the year. The widespread success of WrestleMania helped transform professional wrestling. The annual event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin , Cyndi Lauper , Muhammad Ali , Mr. T , Mike Tyson , Donald Trump , Floyd Mayweather Jr. , Snoop Dogg , Rob Gronkowski , Shaquille O'Neal , and Bad Bunny , among many others, have made special appearances within
5916-585: Is the only time consecutive WrestleManias were held in the same venue. The event also saw the WrestleMania in-ring debut of Shawn Michaels , who would later go on to earn the moniker "Mr. WrestleMania". The first time WrestleMania took place outside of the United States was WrestleMania VI, which was held at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada . In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won
6090-437: The 2008 WWE Hall of Fame class: Jack and Gerald Brisco , Gordon Solie (represented by his family), Rocky Johnson , High Chief Peter Maivia (represented by his wife Lia and daughter Ata), Eddie Graham (represented by his son Mike), Mae Young , and Ric Flair (represented by his family). The next match, which was billed as a "Battle for Brand Supremacy", was between SmackDown's Batista and Raw's Umaga . Early in
6264-798: The Blu-ray Disc format by WWE Home Video . WrestleMania also led to an increase in sales for musical artists related to the event, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers ' album Stadium Arcadium , John Legend 's album Live from Philadelphia , Rev Theory 's single " Light It Up ", and Fuel 's single " Leave the Memories Alone ", which was used as part of a tribute to Ric Flair . WrestleMania XXIV featured nine professional wrestling matches with wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots , and storylines . Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed
6438-525: The Canadian National Exhibition . The three-day event included similar activities to that of the one-day line-up. 2003 would be the final WrestleMania Axxess at a convention center for 6 years. From 2004 to 2008, WrestleMania Axxess visited cities around the United States and Canada with a smaller touring version of what was previously presented at regular Axxess events. In 2009 WrestleMania Axxess returned, and has continued every year since, as
6612-578: The Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois , and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles. They each featured multiple matches that led up to the main event; this saw WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeat King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match . A world indoor attendance-record of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in
6786-613: The Montreal Screwjob incident, Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match with members of the Hart wrestling family present. The Money in the Bank ladder match included ten participants from both Raw and SmackDown (the ECW brand was retired in February), and this match was won by Jack Swagger . This was the last Money in the Bank ladder match to be held at a WrestleMania event due to
6960-574: The NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship , became additional choices in 2020, but were dropped as choices in 2022 after NXT reverted to its original status as WWE's developmental brand in September 2021. WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match . This match features six to ten participants and took place at six WrestleManias between 2005 and 2010 before becoming
7134-573: The Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January, Orton successfully defended the WWE Championship against Jeff Hardy and later that night, Cena returned from an injury and won the Royal Rumble match when he last eliminated Triple H. Instead of challenging Orton for the title at WrestleMania, Cena decided to challenge him at No Way Out , where Orton got himself intentionally disqualified by slapping
WrestleMania XXIV - Misplaced Pages Continue
7308-613: The SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka , ending Asuka's two-year undefeated streak, and Nicholas, a 10-year old fan, became the youngest champion in WWE history when he teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship, The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was also defended for the first time at WrestleMania, where The Bludgeon Brothers ( Harper and Rowan ) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) and The New Day to win
7482-663: The WWE United States Championship , that had started in July 2007, was revived with a match booked at Backlash, which Hardy won. The rivalries between The Undertaker and Edge and the one between Kane and Chavo Guerrero both continued with successful title defenses at Backlash. On the May 2 episode of SmackDown , General Manager Vickie Guerrero stripped The Undertaker of the World Heavyweight Championship because of his continued use of his illegal chokehold, claiming she did it to protect
7656-534: The World Heavyweight Championship . Raw's main match was a triple threat match , in which Randy Orton defeated Triple H and John Cena to retain the WWE Championship . The main match from the ECW brand was a singles match in which Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW Championship . From the six scheduled bouts on the undercard , three received more promotion than the others. In
7830-531: The history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom . To make certain that every seat in the Pontiac Silverdome would be filled, WWF decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it. The event featured Hulk Hogan defending
8004-401: The match card also includes gimmick matches and matches involving personal feuds. Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match receives a guaranteed world championship match at the same year's WrestleMania (except in 2016 in which the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was the prize of the match itself). With the introduction of the previous World Heavyweight Championship in 2002,
8178-526: The "Big Four". WrestleMania XXIV featured wrestlers from the Raw , SmackDown , and ECW brands . On March 21, 2007, a press conference was held at City Hall in Orlando, Florida , formally announcing that WrestleMania XXIV would be held in Orlando at the Florida Citrus Bowl on March 30, 2008, which would be the first WrestleMania held in Florida. According to an interview with The Daytona Beach News-Journal at
8352-500: The Bank briefcase and won the title from McIntyre, becoming only the second wrestler to successfully win a world championship after a cash-in at WrestleMania, and Sami Zayn defeating Gunther in Night 1 to end the latter's 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion . Also on the card, Rhea Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Becky Lynch in the opening match of
8526-527: The Bank briefcase, turning the bout into a Triple Threat, ending with Rollins pinning Reigns to win the championship. Other main bouts included Sting 's first-ever WWE match against Triple H, which he lost, The Undertaker returned and defeated Bray Wyatt to get his 22nd victory at the event's history, Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins and Rusev lost the United States Championship and his unbeaten streak to John Cena. Another important promoted match
8700-514: The Big Show, while Triple H retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. At WrestleMania XXVI , the professional wrestling career of Shawn Michaels came to an end as he faced The Undertaker in a highly acclaimed re-match of their encounter from the previous year. The event also featured John Cena winning the WWE Championship and Chris Jericho retaining the World Heavyweight Championship. Following Bret Hart's return to WWE in over twelve years since
8874-488: The Citrus Bowl's record-breaking attendance brought an estimated $ 51.5 million – surpassing the projected $ 25 million – into the local economy and generated $ 1.8 million in local tax revenue. The Central Florida Sports Commission reported that the event created jobs and brought approximately 60,000 visitors to the city. Over one million people ordered the event on pay-per-view, grossing $ 23.8 million in revenue. It
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#17328906268729048-517: The FU, but was countered into a Pedigree . As Triple H was in the pin, Orton punted Triple H and pinned Cena to win the match and retain the WWE Championship. The next match was the No Disqualification match between Big Show and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Early in the match, Mayweather repeatedly escaped Big Show's grasp and delivered body shots to him. Mayweather and his accomplices tried to "walk out" of
9222-506: The Intercontinental Championship, and The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in a record-breaking 6-second match. Also at WrestleMania 32, Baron Corbin won the third annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Kane. WrestleMania 33 took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida . It was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 29 in 2013 to feature two world championships on
9396-461: The March 7 episode of SmackDown , the team of Edge and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder defeated The Undertaker in a Handicap match after Edge pinned The Undertaker. The following week, La Familia ( Chavo Guerrero , Edge, Hawkins and Ryder) defeated Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels in a steel cage match . During the match, Undertaker interfered and attacked La Familia. However, Edge escaped the cage to win
9570-550: The SmackDown Women's Championship, which was the first time two African Americans headlined WrestleMania. Also on the card, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship and celebrity Bad Bunny teamed with Damian Priest and defeated The Miz and John Morrison . In the main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan in
9744-450: The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and end Reigns' generational 1,316 day-long title reign, following interference from Reigns' cousins Jimmy Uso , Solo Sikoa , and The Rock on his behalf, and Jey Uso , John Cena , Seth Rollins and The Undertaker on Rhodes' behalf. Other marquee matches during the two-night event saw Drew McIntyre defeat Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship before Damian Priest cashed in his Money in
9918-601: The United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association . In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony D'Angelo. WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena ) in
10092-601: The Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. In another main event promoted match, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura . Other marquee matches saw Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, which was Rousey's WWE debut match, and Daniel Bryan had his in-ring return after three years, teaming with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn . Also, The Undertaker defeated John Cena in an impromptu match. In another prominent match, Charlotte Flair retained
10266-403: The Universal Championship. The event also saw the retirement of veteran WWE stars Kurt Angle and Batista. For the first time, the main event of WrestleMania was a women's match, with Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch facing off in a Winner Takes All Triple Threat match for both championships, in which Lynch emerged victorious. For
10440-452: The WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, via submission. The third main event featured The Rock defeating John Cena via pinfall in a "Once in a Lifetime" match, announced a year in advance. In 2013, WrestleMania 29 had 80,676 fans in attendance, becoming the third-highest attended WrestleMania ever. This WrestleMania had three main events. The first saw The Undertaker extend his undefeated streak to 21–0 by defeating CM Punk. Triple H, with
10614-471: The WWE Championship and Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The event also featured the Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley) versus Evolution ( Batista , Randy Orton , and Ric Flair) in a 2-on-3 handicap match, which was The Rock's last match for over seven years, as well as Stone Cold as the guest referee in an inter-promotional singles match between
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#173289062687210788-493: The WWE Hall of Fame inductions, and then NXT holding its now annual WrestleMania event, Stand & Deliver , the afternoon of Night 1, and then followed by Raw After WrestleMania on Monday. At WrestleMania 38 itself, Cody Rhodes returned as Seth Rollins' "mystery opponent", defeating Rollins in Night 1. In the main event of Night 1, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came out of retirement for a one match return to defeat Kevin Owens . In
10962-506: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant and the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat . The match between Savage and Steamboat would go on to be regarded as one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history and is acknowledged by many (including Vince McMahon) as having "stolen the show". WrestleMania IV
11136-579: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan. The following year, the event returned to the United States for WrestleMania VII, which was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena after poor ticket sales, sold on television as being for security reasons related to the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter 's storyline defection to Iraq . The event saw Hulk Hogan face defending champion Sgt. Slaughter for
11310-559: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut, defeating Jimmy Snuka . Following this, The Undertaker went undefeated in 21 of his WrestleMania matches until he lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. The next edition, WrestleMania VIII, was held in the Hoosier Dome with "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeating Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and Hulk Hogan defeating Sid Justice via disqualification. WrestleMania IX
11484-584: The World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, and Fandango pulling off an upset win over veteran Chris Jericho. In the opening bout, The Shield ( Dean Ambrose , Seth Rollins , and Roman Reigns ) defeated the team of Big Show, Sheamus , and Randy Orton in their WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XXX was the 30th annual WrestleMania event produced by WWE on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans , Louisiana . The event
11658-437: The World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match, and John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Triple H. Edge defeated Mick Foley in a Hardcore Rules match, where Edge infamously speared Foley off the ring apron through a flaming table at ringside. WrestleMania 22 also featured Shawn Michaels defeating Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match, Undertaker defeating Mark Henry in
11832-434: The World Heavyweight Championship of SmackDown, or the ECW Championship of ECW) at any time and any place over a one-year period. Qualifying matches occurred to determine the participants in the match at WrestleMania, starting on that night's Raw with Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy defeating Snitsky and Val Venis respectively to qualify. Shelton Benjamin became the third participant when he defeated Jimmy Wang Yang on
12006-454: The WrestleMania match between Triple H and Orton, making it a triple threat match . If Orton won, the main event would remain as Orton versus Triple H in a singles match . However, Cena won the match and was added to the bout at WrestleMania. After the match, Triple H, who was the special guest referee , executed a Pedigree on both Cena and Orton. The predominant rivalry on the SmackDown brand
12180-410: The air and would air its final episode on February 16. The final match on the show was an extreme rules match where Ezekiel Jackson defeated ECW Champion Christian . With the ECW brand permanently disbanded, the ECW roster were assigned to other brands. The ECW show was replaced by the reality series NXT , which was rebranded as WWE's developmental territory , NXT , in 2012. When ECW
12354-418: The attendance record at 101,763 as announced by The Rock at the event. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Other bouts included the Undertaker defeating Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match. Had Shane won, he would have gained control of Raw , while had Undertaker lost, this would have been his last WrestleMania. Brock Lesnar defeated Dean Ambrose in
12528-512: The battle royal that took place before the event. WrestleMania WrestleMania is a professional wrestling event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE , the world's largest professional wrestling promotion . Since premiering in 1985 , 40 events have been held, with its most recent 40th edition occurring at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6 and 7, 2024. WrestleMania
12702-514: The branded and co-branded pay-per-view events . From 2007 to 2009, ECW wrestlers also occasionally appeared on the Raw and SmackDown television programs due to talent exchange agreements between the brands. The brand was dissolved in February 2010, and its show was replaced by the reality series NXT , which was rebranded as WWE's developmental territory , NXT , in 2012. In early-to-mid-2002, then World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) underwent
12876-449: The course of which Lex Luger attacked Bret Hart . In 1994, WWF offered "Fan Fest" for the weekend of WrestleMania X, which allowed fans to step inside a WWF ring, participate in games, meet superstars, and purchase merchandise; the event was followed up in 1995 with another "Fan Fest" for WrestleMania XI. For WrestleMania XV, a pre-event concert known as the "WrestleMania Rage Party" (in reference to that year's theme, "The Ragin' Climax")
13050-452: The creation of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view in July that year. WrestleMania XXVII featured the return of The Rock following a seven-year hiatus to serve as host for the event. Trish Stratus competed in her first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 22, teaming with John Morrison and Jersey Shore ' s Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to defeat LayCool and Dolph Ziggler . Longtime WWE announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler brawled in
13224-476: The crowd for their support. The sixth match was the Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjack match , in which Maria and Ashley (the latter who replaced Candice Michelle due to injury) faced Beth Phoenix and Melina , who were accompanied to the ring by Santino Marella . Rapper Snoop Dogg served as the official " Master of Ceremonies " for the match. In the match, several WWE Divas surrounded
13398-424: The departing superstars Brock Lesnar (who would return to the company eight years later) and Goldberg (who would return 12 years later). The WWE Hall of Fame was also reintroduced and became an annual induction show held the night before or week of WrestleMania. At WrestleMania 21 , the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match was introduced; a six-man ladder match that featured a briefcase suspended above
13572-430: The entire WWE roster came out to say thank you to Flair (Including Undertaker, who came out after Raw went off the air and hugged Flair and did his kneeling stance). Shawn Michaels, who was clearly upset about retiring Flair, was forgiven by Flair. Despite Flair's forgiveness, his former protégé Batista later started a feud with Michaels, citing Michaels' "selfishness" at WrestleMania for not lying down for Flair. The two had
13746-700: The event have been hosted in North American cities, with 38 in the United States and two in Canada . The only WrestleMania in the event's history not to air live and be held without fans in attendance was WrestleMania 36 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; it was the first major professional wrestling event to be affected by the pandemic. It was also the first to be held across two nights, with each WrestleMania since becoming two-night events. WrestleMania 37 in 2021
13920-498: The event motivated WWE to organize a second One Night Stand the following year. With rejuvenated interest in the ECW product, WWE began exploring the possibility of reviving the promotion full-time. On May 25, 2006, WWE announced the launch of ECW as a stand-alone brand, congruous to Raw and SmackDown! , with its own show on Sci Fi (now Syfy ). On May 29, the WWE held their 2006 brand extension draft . The draft featured ECW founder Paul Heyman receiving two total draft picks from
14094-598: The event produces a local economy boost for the host cities. WrestleMania centers on the main event matches, primarily for the men's WWE Championship —and additional men's world titles, such as the previous World Heavyweight Championship (2003–2013), the WWE Universal Championship (since 2017), and the current World Heavyweight Championship (since 2024)—as well as matches involving celebrities such as American footballer Lawrence Taylor or actor Mr. T . Other WWE championships are also contested for, while
14268-581: The event saluting the fans after laying out John Cena and The Miz with his signature move , the Rock Bottom , following Miz retaining the WWE Championship. This incident would set up the main event for the following year's WrestleMania. WrestleMania XXVIII had three matches in the upper card. In the first main event, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match via pinfall, officiated by Shawn Michaels and extending his WrestleMania streak to 20–0. The second main event featured CM Punk retaining
14442-590: The events, with some participating in matches. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City ; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan , was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 fans in attendance. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke
14616-419: The existing Raw and SmackDown! rosters for the newly created ECW brand. During the draft, Rob Van Dam was drafted from Raw and Kurt Angle from SmackDown! as the marquee signings. The ECW brand was initially produced differently from WWE's other brands. For televised events, the main ring-facing cameras were placed on a different location in the arena while the wrestling ring itself featured an ECW logo on
14790-522: The face, which caused him to start bleeding from the mouth. Later, Michaels attempted Sweet Chin Music , but stopped in the process and Flair capitalized by trapping him in his figure four leglock . Afterward, Michaels finally delivered the Sweet Chin Music to Flair for a near-fall. Michaels then trapped Flair in his modified figure four leglock , but Flair delivered a thumb to the eye to Michaels to break
14964-553: The fireworks exploding into the top rows of the upper bowl of the stadium. WWE's corporate website released a statement afterward stating that they would investigate the incident, but the results of the investigation were never released. On the following episode of Raw , Ric Flair made his farewell speech, which led to Triple H introducing various people from Flair's past, such as the Four Horsemen , Ricky Steamboat , and others, each coming out to give an emotional farewell. Afterward,
15138-507: The first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T , accompanied by Jimmy Snuka against the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff , who were accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton . The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful professional wrestling promotion in
15312-434: The first night, Jey Uso defeated his twin brother Jimmy Uso in Night 1, in only the third WrestleMania to feature a match between two real-life brothers after Owen Hart vs Bret Hart at WrestleMania X and Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25 , social media influencer and professional boxer Logan Paul beat Randy Orton and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to retain the United States Championship on
15486-415: The first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the brand extension was introduced was used and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole . The following year at WrestleMania XXVI, Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker . At WrestleMania XXVII, Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Mathews and new SmackDown color commentator Booker T ; the sudden change of commentary
15660-584: The first time in WrestleMania's history, WrestleMania 36 was taped and held across two nights. The tapings occurred on March 25 and 26, 2020, at multiple locations including the WWE Performance Center in Orlando , Florida. It then aired on tape delay on April 4 and 5. It was originally scheduled to take place solely on April 5 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida , and to air live, but
15834-507: The first-ever Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship , involving The Hardy Boyz ( Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy ), The Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley ), and Edge and Christian . The main event featured WWF Champion Triple H successfully defend his title in a fatal four-way match against The Rock, Big Show , and Mick Foley . This match was billed as having 'a McMahon in every corner' as Triple H
16008-406: The following episode of SmackDown . During the next two weeks on Raw , Chris Jericho defeated Hardy, and Carlito defeated Cody Rhodes to qualify. At a non-televised SmackDown/ECW house show held on March 8, Montel Vontavious Porter qualified when he defeated Jamie Noble . On the March 11 episode of ECW , CM Punk became the seventh entrant when he defeated Big Daddy V . John Morrison
16182-592: The former as the only title to challenge for until the reintroduction of the brand split in 2016, which added the WWE Universal Championship as a choice. After it and the WWE Championship were unified as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, the undisputed title became the only choice in 2023, but with the introduction of a new World Heavyweight Championship following that year's WrestleMania 39 , there
16356-520: The fourth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Jinder Mahal . The event also marked the unannounced return of The Hardy Boyz, who won the Raw Tag Team Championship at the event in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. WrestleMania 34 was held on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the main event, Brock Lesnar retained
16530-443: The hands of Shawn Michaels." On February 18, WWE announced via its website that the fourth annual Money in the Bank ladder match would take place at WrestleMania XXIV, a match where the objective is to retrieve a briefcase suspended in the air using a ladder. The match involved wrestlers from all three WWE brands. The winner would earn a contract to challenge for any of the three WWE World Championships (the WWE Championship of Raw,
16704-411: The headline match of its own pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank which incorporated the use of two Money in the Bank ladder matches for both respective WWE brands, Raw and SmackDown (since 2017, two matches have been held at the titular event, but one each for the men and women, with participants divided between the brands). The participant who retrieves the briefcase suspended above the ring wins
16878-464: The help of Shawn Michaels, defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match; had Triple H lost, he would have had to retire from in-ring competition. In the final match, John Cena avenged his loss from the previous year by defeating The Rock for the WWE Championship, winning the title a record 11th time and setting a record of four victories as a challenger in a world title match at WrestleMania. Other matches included Alberto Del Rio successfully defending
17052-556: The indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium, since renamed AT&T Stadium , in Arlington, Texas . In 2016, WrestleMania 32 surpassed WrestleMania III as the highest-attended professional wrestling event ever held in America, with 101,763 fans in attendance at AT&T Stadium, although the company revealed that attendance figures are manipulated for marketing purposes through investor calls. All editions of
17226-411: The lakes nearby the stadium. WWE has been said to have spent an estimated $ 300,000 on the fireworks alone. With the Citrus Bowl's locker rooms on the south side and the entrance set on the north side, a tented 40,000 square feet (3,700 m ) mini-city outside the north end served as the show's backstage area and included air conditioning, trailers, VIP areas, showers and restrooms. As a consequence,
17400-489: The lighting and video screens on the tarpaulin rig, as well as the sound system. During an interview, WWE production manager Brian Petree mentioned that video reinforcement should prevent anyone's view from being obstructed by the steel structure. Up to seven generators were used to power up the event. The set design for the entrance stage was at the north end of the stadium and consisted of another steel structure with various video screens hanging from it. The steel beams for
17574-475: The line: Raw's Universal Championship , defended for the first time at WrestleMania, and SmackDown's WWE Championship. The main event saw Roman Reigns defeat The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. Elsewhere on the event's card, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg in a rematch from WrestleMania XX to become the new Universal Champion, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship, and Mojo Rawley won
17748-537: The main event for Part 1 of WrestleMania 36, The Undertaker defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard match , which was produced as a cinematic match and was one of two matches not filmed at the Performance Center—this would in turn be The Undertaker's final match. Braun Strowman also defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship while Becky Lynch retained the Raw Women's Championship over NXT's Shayna Baszler. In
17922-466: The main event for Part 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship; after the show went off the air, a dark match occurred wherein McIntyre retained the title over Big Show in a match described by WWE as the "hidden WrestleMania main event" (which was shown on the April 6 episode of Raw ). Also on the show, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena in a Firefly Fun House match, which
18096-609: The main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match for the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, becoming the first wrestler to hold both titles simultaneously and becoming recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion , although both titles retained their individual lineages. WrestleMania 39 took place on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California —the original location of WrestleMania 37 before
18270-410: The mat and blank turnbuckle covers. The male performers were referred to "Extremists" instead of " Superstars " while female performers were called "Vixens" rather than Divas . However, the brand steadily began being produced following the same format of the other brands and as opposed to the original promotion match rules, such as count outs and disqualifications , were now standard. Matches featuring
18444-430: The match as the greatest WrestleMania match of all time. At WrestleMania XIV , Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serving as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable D-Generation X , Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin
18618-470: The match by pinning Umaga after a Batista Bomb . The fourth match for the event featured Chavo Guerrero defending his ECW Championship against Kane. Kane surprised Chavo by emerging from underneath the ring instead of from the entrance stage during his ring entrance. Kane instantly pinned Chavo after a chokeslam and won the ECW Championship in eleven seconds. This was the only ECW match on the show and
18792-423: The match for his team. Two weeks later on SmackDown , Edge, along with Vickie Guerrero , Hawkins and Ryder, held a mock burial entitled "Burial of The Undertaker's WrestleMania Undefeated Streak", to celebrate Edge's early victory over The Undertaker. During the "burial", however, The Undertaker emerged from a casket, which was inside the ring, and attacked Edge, Hawkins, and Ryder, knocking Hawkins and Ryder outside
18966-418: The match outcomes could have occurred anywhere. Finlay was accompanied to the ring by his storyline son, Hornswoggle , who was returning from a scripted injury suffered at the hands of JBL. During the match, JBL hit Finlay with a trash can lid when the latter was about to perform a suicide dive on him through the ropes on the outside. Later on, Finlay tossed JBL through a table that he had set up earlier on
19140-508: The match was slow-paced, in which both superstars countered each other's maneuvers. During the match, Undertaker ran and leapt over the top rope from the ring onto Edge on the outside. Then throughout the match, Edge was able to counter Undertaker's numerous signature moves, including the Chokeslam , Old School and the Last Ride , a variation of the powerbomb. Near the end, Edge hit Undertaker with
19314-426: The match, both Batista and Umaga exchanged blows and Batista knocked Umaga outside with a shoulder block . Umaga later kicked Batista in the face, which caused him to fall back-first outside the ring from the ring-apron. As a result, Umaga started targeting Batista's injured back. In the end, however, when Umaga tried to perform his Samoan Spike , Batista countered the attempt and gave him a spinebuster . Batista won
19488-427: The match, but Big Show walked up the ramp and brought Mayweather back in the ring. As Big Show was about to chokeslam Mayweather, one of Mayweather's accomplices struck a steel chair on Big Show's back, and the latter chokeslammed him in retaliation. Capitalizing from this distraction, Mayweather grabbed that chair and hit Big Show multiple times on the head with it. Finally, Mayweather removed his right glove and put on
19662-689: The match, when Triple H had held Orton in a sleeper hold , Cena picked up both Orton and Triple H for an FU , but Triple H dropped down and low blowed him. Orton then dominated the match for some time; one highlight of the match featured Orton performing a crossbody from the top rope on Cena, while the latter was held on Triple H's shoulders in a seating position. Orton also performed a DDT to both Cena and Triple H simultaneously. Orton then tried to perform an RKO on Cena, but he countered and threw Orton onto Triple H. Triple H then started targeting Orton's legs and using some submissions on him. The match came to an end when Cena had Triple H on his shoulders for
19836-567: The match. After the match, Snoop Dogg executed a Clothesline on Marella and kissed Maria, before leaving with her and Ashley. Next was Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena in a triple threat match , which is a standard match involving three wrestlers with no disqualifications. For his entrance, Cena had the Jones High School Marching Tigers marching band perform an instrumental version of his theme song " The Time Is Now " live. During
20010-404: The mid to late 1990s, the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon , Jim Ross , and Jerry Lawler . Since the brand separation in 2002, matches from the Raw brand have been called by Ross and Lawler; the SmackDown matches called by Michael Cole , Tazz , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , and Jonathan Coachman , and from 2006 to 2010, the ECW matches called by Joey Styles and Tazz. At WrestleMania 25,
20184-419: The only ECW Championship match in WrestleMania history. Ric Flair 's "Career Threatening" match against Shawn Michaels was next, which stipulated that Flair would have to retire from wrestling if he had lost. At the start of the match, both superstars engaged in a series of counters, and then Flair shoved Michaels in a corner, making " Old Yeller " comments to him. In retaliation, Michaels slapped Flair in
20358-496: The only way to win the match was to climb a ladder in the ring and retrieve a contract briefcase hanging above. The match featured Chris Jericho , Mr. Kennedy , and Carlito from the Raw brand ; CM Punk , Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison from the ECW brand; and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) from the SmackDown brand. Jeff Hardy was supposed to be in the match, but he violated
20532-531: The other wrestlers. The event was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by WWE Home Video in the U.S. on May 20, 2008, after it had completed broadcast on pay-per-view . It was also released on UMD on August 23 2008. It was the first WWE PPV event to be released via the Blu-ray and UMD format. As well as the event, the DVD/BD release features bonus material in the form of the 2008 Hall of Fame ceremony in its entirety and
20706-508: The pandemic forced it to be relocated. As was established the previous year, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included a live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday March 31, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 1, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Crypto.com Arena in nearby Los Angeles , which also hosted
20880-526: The post WrestleMania edition of Raw on April 3. The main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania saw Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship , marking the first time a tag team title match was the main event of a WrestleMania, and only the second time a tag team match was the main event, after WrestleMania I. The match was well received. It was also the first WrestleMania match since 1997 to earn
21054-441: The press conference, WWE chairman Vince McMahon mentioned Orlando being one of three front-runners to host the event, the other two being Las Vegas and Paris. McMahon explained that Orlando was chosen as geographically, a WrestleMania was never held in the southeast before. As the second WrestleMania to be held entirely outdoors (after WrestleMania IX ), McMahon also announced that the event would have taken place regardless of
21228-468: The public on November 3, 2007. WWE and the City of Orlando hosted festivities that spanned a five-day period within the central Florida region. For the second consecutive year, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest- grossing pay-per-view in WWE history. It also set a gate record for the Citrus Bowl, grossing US$ 5.85 million in ticket sales. According to a study by Enigma Research Corporation of Toronto,
21402-408: The referee, thus retaining the WWE Championship. Later, Triple H also became a top contender to the WWE Championship by defeating five other men in an Elimination Chamber match . The next night on Raw , Cena argued that he deserved another WWE Championship match. Raw general manager William Regal then announced that Cena would face Orton later in the night, where if Cena won, he would be added to
21576-452: The return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin after a year-long hiatus, while Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels in a highly acclaimed match. The Money in the Bank ladder match was also held at WrestleMania 22 as a six-man interpromotional match where the winner would get a world title match of their choosing, regardless of the brand they were on, with this match was won by Rob Van Dam. The main events of WrestleMania 22 featured Rey Mysterio win
21750-557: The ring and chokeslamming Edge through the casket. At No Way Out, Big Show made a return to the company after taking time off for injuries beginning in December 2006. In his return promotional interview, Big Show threatened to give Rey Mysterio a chokeslam. Professional boxer and WBC Welterweight Champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather , who was in attendance and a close friend of Mysterio's, came to his aid and confronted Big Show. After Big Show dropped to his knees, Mayweather attacked him with
21924-416: The ring and were able to interfere in the match without disqualifications. Due to some technical difficulties, the lights at Citrus Bowl temporarily went out during the match. Near the end, a pin attempt by Maria was prevented when Marella pulled Maria's leg. In response, Raw commentator Jerry Lawler approached and knocked Marella down with a punch. Phoenix executed a Fisherman Suplex and pinned Maria to win
22098-598: The ring containing a contract that guaranteed the winning Raw brand participant a world title match at any time and place of their choosing within one year up to the next year's WrestleMania, in which Edge went on to win this match. In the main events, the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship passed on to John Cena and Batista , respectively, by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Triple H in their respective matches. Eddie Guerrero's last WrestleMania match took place at WrestleMania 21 against Rey Mysterio, before he died later that year. The event also featured
22272-415: The road next to the north end zone, W. Church Street, was closed down until a day after the event. Numerous other roads were also closed to allow trucks and forklifts to move in mega equipment for the event. The ring itself was built on the 50-yard line of the Citrus Bowl to give the best view for fans. Heavy-duty plastic flooring had been put over the field, to protect the turf, provide seating, and serve as
22446-428: The rule set of the original promotion were then classified as being contested under " Extreme Rules " and were only fought when specified. Former ECW owner Paul Heyman served as the on-air ECW Representative until December to Dismember , when Heyman was relieved from both his on and off-air duties with WWE. After Heyman left in late 2006, there was no ECW authority figure until August 14, 2007, when Armando Estrada
22620-570: The second night, and Bayley defeating Iyo Sky in Night 2 for the WWE Women's Championship to mark her first world title victory at WrestleMania. WrestleMania 41 will take place on April 19 and 20, 2025, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada . While still roughly in mid-April, this is the latest April date for a WrestleMania, which subsequently marks the first WrestleMania to be held during Easter weekend. Additionally,
22794-487: The songs " The Star-Spangled Banner " or " America the Beautiful " before the show. Robert Goulet performed " O Canada " at WrestleMania VI. Acts such as Motörhead , Limp Bizkit , Saliva , Run–D.M.C. , Salt-n-Pepa , Living Colour , Ice-T , Drowning Pool , Flo Rida , P.O.D. , Machine Gun Kelly , Rev Theory , Mark Crozer , and Snoop Dogg have also performed during the live entrances of competitors. In 1988, in association with The Trump Organization , WWF prepared
22968-537: The special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship bout between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, while professional boxer Butterbean was challenged to a boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV. At WrestleManias XIV, XV, and 2000, Pete Rose became involved in a short feud with Kane that became a running gag with each appearance ending with Rose receiving a Tombstone piledriver or chokeslam from Kane. Big Show faced sumo wrestling yokozuna Akebono in
23142-428: The steel structures' foundation. Development on the set design began in the middle of 2007. The building of the actual set began in the middle of March 2008. 100 people worked 16 hours a day to construct the set for the event. The construction finished on March 29. WrestleMania XXIV was the first WrestleMania event to be filmed in high-definition . It was also the first WWE show and sports related title to be released on
23316-461: The stipulation of Night 2's main event. Since Rock and Reigns won, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match was a Bloodline Rules match . Had Rhodes and Rollins won, all members of The Bloodline would have been barred from ringside during the championship match. Night 2 witnessed a rematch from last years WrestleMania, as Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in the Bloodline Rules match to win
23490-461: The structure were custom built in Belgium and shipped over to Orlando. According to WWE Magazine , the amount of pyrotechnics used would be ten times that of the amount used on Raw . Without the restriction of a roof, the pyrotechnics for the show shot as high as 2,000 feet (610 m ) as compared to WrestleMania 23 's height of 150 feet (46 m). The fireworks were set off from boats on one of
23664-508: The submission. As Flair was delivering chops to Michaels' chest, Michaels executed a second Sweet Chin Music. After getting up on his feet with a worried face, Michaels said to Flair "I'm sorry, I love you", before nailing a final Sweet Chin Music and thus pinning Flair to end his 35-year-long wrestling career. After the match, Michaels left quickly and Flair got a standing ovation from the crowd. An emotional Flair embraced his family at ringside and then, as he proceeded to go backstage, he thanked
23838-506: The subsequent doubling of its roster and championships . The brand extension was publicly announced by Linda McMahon during a telecast of Raw on March 25 and became official the next day. WWE acquired the rights to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)'s trademarks and video library in 2003. The enormous popularity of The Rise and Fall of ECW and other ECW merchandise prompted WWE to organize One Night Stand , an ECW reunion pay-per-view in 2005. The financial and critical success of
24012-529: The title from Diesel at WrestleMania XI, Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match was widely praised. The event also saw the return of the Ultimate Warrior, who defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) in the latter's WrestleMania debut. At WrestleMania 13 , a submission match pitted Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin against one another in
24186-504: The title in the " Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational". WrestleMania XXX also saw the end of The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania as he was defeated by Brock Lesnar in what was described as 'the most shocking result in sports-entertainment history'. At WrestleMania XXX, Bray Wyatt 's undefeated streak since his debut came to an end at the hands of John Cena. Also, at WrestleMania XXX, The Shield defeated Kane and The New Age Outlaws ( Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ) in
24360-528: The titles, Matt Hardy last eliminated Baron Corbin to win fifth André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as well as first-ever WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal contested where Naomi won by last eliminating Bayley . WrestleMania 35 was held on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At the event, Kofi Kingston became the first African-born WWE Champion after defeating Daniel Bryan, while Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win
24534-464: The top of the ladder. Later, Carlito and Kennedy flipped Benjamin off a ladder in the ring, sending him crashing through another ladder set-up between the barricade and the ring apron. When MVP was close to retrieving the contract briefcase, Matt Hardy (returning to action after suffering a legitimate injury), entered the ring from the crowd, climbed the ladder, and delivered a Twist of Fate to MVP off that ladder. As soon as Morrison started to climb
24708-407: The tournament featured a rematch of the previous year's main event between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant while Randy Savage went on to defeat Ted DiBiase in the finals to win the championship. The next event, WrestleMania V, returned the event to Atlantic City, in which Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Savage had won the previous year. To date, this
24882-456: The turnbuckle. Hornswoggle also got involved during the match by hitting JBL with a kendo stick , while later on JBL threw a trash can at him. Attacking Finlay's knee with a kendo stick , JBL delivered a Clothesline from Hell to Finlay to score a successful pinfall . This was an interpromotional match. The next match of the evening was the fourth-annual Money in the Bank ladder match , in which there were no disqualifications or countouts, and
25056-485: The weather conditions. In the March 2008 issue of WWE Magazine , WWE set designer Jason Robinson revealed that a steel rig with a tarpaulin roof would be built above the ring itself to prevent rain from falling on the ring; during the Money in the Bank ladder match , it rained briefly. In that same issue, an initial design of the ring setup was revealed showing a larger rig surrounding the tarpaulin rig, with lighting and two giant screens attached. The final design had
25230-439: The wellness program and was taken out of the match. Early in the match, Morrison climbed a turnbuckle and performed a moonsault onto other competitors outside the ring while holding a ladder against his chest. Later, while Kennedy and Morrison were battling on top of a ladder, Benjamin climbed another ladder placed adjacent to the first one and performed a sunset flip powerbomb on Kennedy, who in turn superplexed Morrison from
25404-463: The winner was also given the option to choose between it or the WWE Championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option, the ECW Championship . This option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010; however, the title was never chosen. The brand split ended in 2011 and the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships were unified in 2013, leaving
25578-460: The winner. The Undertaker and Kane fought for the first time at this event where The Undertaker won. The following year at WrestleMania XV , Austin defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. The event featured the first of three encounters at WrestleMania between Austin and The Rock in a rivalry of the two most prominent and popular stars of the Attitude Era. WrestleMania 2000 featured
25752-437: The wrestlers. Billy Martin served as ring announcer with Liberace as timekeeper, and Muhammad Ali served as an official. Mr. T competed in the main event alongside tag team partner, Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as
25926-492: Was WWE's first pay-per-view (PPV) produced and is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. The event has been broadcast through traditional PPV since 1985 and has been available via livestreaming since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, which was WWE's first major event available through this medium. WrestleMania was conceptualized by former WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon and named by ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel . It
26100-1626: Was WWE's first event back with a live crowd, but at a reduced venue capacity before the company resumed live touring with full capacity crowds in July that year. Most WrestleMania events have taken place in large stadiums in large cities, with some in sports arenas. Much like the Super Bowl , cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. The most-attended events include WrestleMania III (93,173) in Pontiac , WrestleMania VI (67,678) in Toronto , WrestleMania VIII (62,167) in Indianapolis , WrestleMania X-Seven (67,925) in Houston , WrestleMania X8 (68,237) also in Toronto, WrestleMania XIX (54,097) in Seattle , WrestleMania 23 (80,103) in Detroit , WrestleMania XXIV (74,635) in Orlando , WrestleMania 25 (72,744) also in Houston, WrestleMania XXVI (72,219) in Phoenix , WrestleMania XXVII (71,617) in Atlanta , WrestleMania XXVIII (78,363) in Miami , WrestleMania 29 (80,676) in East Rutherford , WrestleMania XXX (75,167) in New Orleans , WrestleMania 31 (76,976) in Santa Clara , and WrestleMania 32 (101,763) in Arlington . Since moving to large stadiums and running WrestleMania Axxess ,
26274-572: Was accompanied by Stephanie McMahon , The Rock by Vince McMahon, Big Show by Shane McMahon , and Mick Foley by Linda McMahon . At WrestleMania X-Seven , Stone Cold defeated The Rock and regained the WWF Championship. The event also featured Vince and Shane McMahon in a Street Fight , while Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match . The event
26448-474: Was also the first WrestleMania PPV broadcast in high definition . WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment 's (WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985 . It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , and Survivor Series , referred to as
26622-427: Was also the second WrestleMania to be held outdoors (the first was WrestleMania IX in April 1993). American socialite Kim Kardashian served as the hostess of the event. Nine professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event, which featured a supercard , a scheduling of more than one main event. In the final match of the event, which was the main match from SmackDown, The Undertaker defeated Edge to win
26796-531: Was announced as the General Manager. On June 3, 2008, Estrada was replaced by Theodore Long . On the April 7, 2009 edition of ECW , it was announced that Long was returning to SmackDown to fulfill the role of General Manager. From this point, the Interim General Manager was named as Tiffany , who took over as full-time General Manager on the June 30 episode. On October 16, 2007, a "talent exchange"
26970-574: Was between Edge and The Undertaker , over the World Heavyweight Championship . On the February 1 episode of SmackDown , assistant general manager Theodore Long announced that at No Way Out, an Elimination Chamber match would be held to determine the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. The Undertaker won the match by last eliminating Batista. On the following episode of SmackDown , Edge predicted that The Undertaker's 15–0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania would come to an end once he defeated him. Two weeks later on
27144-553: Was defended for the first time at the event, with Triple H retaining against Booker T , while Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWE Championship. WWE celebrated the 20th edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden with WrestleMania XX . The event featured The Undertaker (who returned to his Deadman persona) defeating the unmasked Kane in their second encounter and the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship victories of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit , respectively, with Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle to retain
27318-755: Was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Lawler. Howard Finkel , who is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984, has served as the long-standing ring-announcer and has appeared at every event except WrestleMania 33 , but since the introduction of the WWE brand extension, Lilian Garcia , Tony Chimel , and Justin Roberts took over as announcers for their respective brand's matches. Four French commentators were at ringside: Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau ( WrestleMania 13 ), Phillippe Chéreau, and Christophe Agius ( WrestleMania XXX , WrestleMania 31 , WrestleMania 32 , and WrestleMania 33 ). The World Wrestling Federation staged
27492-590: Was held at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (though on the broadcast it was billed as being held in the Trump Plaza because the adjacent casino hotel was the event's primary sponsor). The event was an all-tournament event to crown a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion, with four non-tournament matches to fill between the gaps in the tournament rounds. The second round of
27666-652: Was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and televised by USA Network in an hour-long special, featuring performances by Isaac Hayes and Big Pun . The following year WWF held its first WrestleMania Axxess event at the Anaheim Convention Center expanding upon the party idea of WrestleMania Rage Party . The event included autograph signings and mementos to inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame . There were also activities where fans could enter
27840-508: Was higher than WrestleMania 23 which received 8 out of 10 stars. The main event between The Undertaker and Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship was rated a 9.5 out of 10 stars. The Career Threatening match between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels was rated a perfect 10 out of 10. Big Show vs. Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. was rated 7 out of 10 stars, and the Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship between Randy Orton, Triple H and John Cena
28014-471: Was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic . It was only attended by essential personnel, and was the first WWE pay-per-view event unattended by fans . It was the first WrestleMania to promote the NXT brand, which was formerly WWE's developmental brand, but this would be the only to promote NXT as the brand was not featured at the next WrestleMania and it returned to being the developmental brand in September 2021. In
28188-436: Was rated 8.5 out of 10 stars. After the show, WWE was criticized for a malfunction in the pyrotechnics during The Undertaker's victory celebration. During the celebration, a hot cable for pyrotechnics was sent flying into audience members in the upper seating bowl of the stadium, leaving 45 injured, with some hospitalized. The accident was apparently due to a cable which fireworks were traveling across snapping, thus resulting in
28362-498: Was started between the SmackDown! and ECW brands, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand. On the September 8, 2008 episode of Raw , it was announced a "talent exchange" was started also for the Raw brand with ECW, allowing their respective talent to appear on either brand whenever they feel like. Following the 2009 WWE draft , both of these talent exchanges were quietly dropped. On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be going off
28536-453: Was the 7-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Daniel Bryan. Also at WrestleMania 31, AJ Lee teamed with Paige to defeat The Bella Twins ( Brie Bella and Nikki Bella ) in a tag team match, while Big Show won the second annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Damien Mizdow . WrestleMania 32 was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 3, 2016. WrestleMania 32 broke
28710-436: Was the final person to qualify when he beat The Miz on the March 14 episode of SmackDown . Hardy was later removed from the match after a legitimate suspension by WWE for a drug violation of the company's Wellness Policy . WWE decided not to add another superstar in his place, making that year's Money in the Bank ladder match the first year to have seven participants. Before the show aired live on pay-per-view , Kane won
28884-501: Was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. It was also the first and only time in WrestleMania history that the WWF World Heavyweight Championship switched twice. Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, only to lose it to Hulk Hogan in an impromptu match. WrestleMania X saw the event's return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret;
29058-569: Was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana . It saw Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H in the opening match. Per the stipulation, this gave Bryan a spot in the main event, where he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by making Batista submit in a triple threat match which also included Randy Orton. It was the only WrestleMania where the WWE Divas Championship was defended, with AJ Lee retaining
29232-410: Was the first after the company was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), saw Stone Cold's last match, as he faced The Rock for a third time at WrestleMania, ending their long-running feud. Additionally, Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels participated in his first WrestleMania match in five years, defeating Chris Jericho . The World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version)
29406-504: Was the last WrestleMania to be produced under the WWF name, and featured Triple H defeating Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed WWF Championship . Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker defeated Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair respectively, all of whom had rejoined the company after their stints with WCW. Also, Rob Van Dam won his first Intercontinental Championship in his WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XIX , which
29580-544: Was the other match not filmed at the Performance Center and also produced as a cinematic match, and Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the NXT Women's Championship , which was the first and thus far only time an NXT title was defended at WrestleMania. Also on Part 2, Edge had his first singles match since 2011 in which he defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match . Following this, WrestleMania would become
29754-462: Was the pinnacle of the 1990s wrestling boom. It was also the first WrestleMania held after the dissolution and WWF's subsequent purchase of the company's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the end of the Monday Night War . The event was highly praised. In 2013, WWE released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with WrestleMania X-Seven ranked at number one. WrestleMania X8
29928-628: Was the second WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue. This was also the last WrestleMania event of the Ruthless Aggression era since later on in Mid-2008 the era ended as the WWE shifted towards a more "kid-friendly" product. WrestleMania 25 featured Chris Jericho defeating WWE Hall of Famers Roddy Piper , Jimmy Snuka , and Ricky Steamboat in a match that featured appearances by Ric Flair and actor Mickey Rourke . Shawn Michaels unsuccessfully attempted to hand The Undertaker his first defeat at
30102-423: Was unable to pin him. When Edge delivered another spear to Undertaker, Undertaker applied Hell's Gate and forced Edge to submit to win the World Heavyweight Championship, improving his WrestleMania record to 16–0. Approximately 1,058,000 people ordered WrestleMania XXIV, grossing $ 23.8 million in revenue. Canadian Online Explorer 's professional wrestling section gave the entire event 9 out of 10 stars. The rating
30276-495: Was won by CM Punk , who would also win the match again at WrestleMania 25. The ECW Championship was defended for the only time at a WrestleMania event, when Kane emerged as the new champion in a record 8 seconds, while Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship and The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second consecutive year, defeating Edge. In an encounter that featured major media coverage, boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Big Show. The event
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