Back in Business: WrestleMania ready to rumble with fans
WWE is set to welcome back fans for the first time in more than a year when 25,000 of the catchphrase-yelling, replica championship belt-wearing, sign-holding diehards are expected on both Saturday and Sunday nights at Raymond James Stadium for WrestleMania.
The company built on the purported 24-inch pythons of Hulk Hogan navigated a pandemic year with live shows held in its ThunderDome setup, where fans appeared on digital video boards and artificial crowd noise was pumped into the stadium for every match. Even without nonstop touring, WWE business has never been better: Already locked into long-term, billion-dollar TV deals with Fox and USA, WWE shifted its standalone streaming service to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service for, yes, another billion-dollar contract.
That’s a truckload of fabulous moolah for a company whose ratings cratered during the pandemic, with just 1.701 million viewers watching the Mania go-home show Monday night on USA.
Often criticized for a heavy reliance on past stars in its marquee events, WWE has John Cena, Lesnar, Triple H, The Undertaker and Bill Goldberg sitting this one out. Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey — the first female wrestlers to headline a WrestleMania main event, in 2019 — are at home. Bayley and Charlotte Flair aren’t advertised. The card, of course, in wrestling is always subject to change.
Drew McIntyre is back in the main event when he takes on WWE champion Bobby Lashley on Saturday. Roman Reigns defends the Universal championship in a triple-threat match against Edge and Daniel Bryan in Sunday’s big match.
Wrestling fans are ready, to cheer, boo, pop their eyes at WrestleMania moments and each unpredictable finish after a year on the sidelines. Maybe McIntyre will get to raise a championship belt in front of crazed fans, after all.