Posted on: May 4, 2024, 07:49h.
Last updated on: May 4, 2024, 10:59h.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced on Saturday that professional wrestling’s biggest event will be held in Las Vegas in 2025. WrestleMania XLI will place its chokehold on Allegiant Stadium over two nights, April 19 and 20.
It will be the annual event’s first time in Sin City since headlining Caesars Palace in 1993.
“Las Vegas is the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” Nick Khan, WWE president, is quoted as saying in Saturday’s press release. “Allegiant Stadium has proven to be even greater than the A+ venue Las Vegas guaranteed it would be.”
For several months, since Minnesota Sports and Events submitted its bid to host WrestleMania XLI, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis was its favored location. On Feb. 9, however, Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben became the first to officially predict Las Vegas instead.
Hardcore fans have been wondering why the announcement was delayed. Nearly a month has passed since this year’s WrestleMania, which is the usual venue for announcing next year’s.
A last minute change is the most likely reason.
So Why 32 Years?
While WWE has been growing steadily since 1993, when it was still essentially a made-for-TV event, the maximum attendance at a Las Vegas venue has not.
Since 2007 — not counting the COVID-affected years of 2020 and 2021 — only venues holding more than 65,000 have hosted what is also called “The Showcase of Immortals.”
But Las Vegas didn’t get a venue that big until the Raiders built one in 2020. Allegiant Stadium also played host to SummerSlam 2021, WWE’s first premium live event after a cycle of closed-door shows during the pandemic.
WWE has also been gravitating toward Vegas ever since merging with fellow sports entertainment giant UFC under the umbrella of TKO Group Holdings last September.
WWE’s first official crossover move was relocating its developmental NXT Battleground event from May 26 in Savanna, Ga. to the UFC Apex, the events and production center that hosts “UFC Fight Night” events, on June 9.
Ticket information for WrestleMania XLI will be released “in the coming months,” according to the press release, though it instructs fans to register “for pre-sale opportunities” here.
