WrestleMania 39
WrestleMania 39, also promoted as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood, was a 2023 professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 39th annual WrestleMania and took place as a two-night event on Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in the Greater Los Angeles city of Inglewood, California, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. WWE wrestler The Miz and rapper Snoop Dogg served as the hosts for the event.
This was the sixth WrestleMania to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh in the U.S. state of California overall. The event was held at the originally planned location and venue for WrestleMania 37 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to be relocated to Tampa, Florida; WrestleMania 39 in turn adopted the Hollywood theme originally intended for that event. It was the first WrestleMania to livestream on Binge in Australia. This would subsequently be the final WrestleMania in which WWE was owned and controlled by the McMahon family as on April 3, the day after the event, it was confirmed that the company had been sold to Endeavor. The sale was finalized on September 12, with WWE merging with Ultimate Fighting Championship to become divisions of TKO Group Holdings.
The card comprised a total of 15 matches, with eight on Night 1 and seven on Night 2. In the main event for Night 1, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, ending the latter's record setting male tag team title reign at 622 days. This was also the first time a tag team championship match was the main event of a WrestleMania, and only the second time a tag team match in general was the main event, after WrestleMania I in March 1985. In other prominent matches, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Logan Paul, Rey Mysterio defeated Dominik Mysterio, Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Austin Theory defeated John Cena to retain Raw's United States Championship. The event also included the in-ring return of Pat McAfee, who wrestled his first match since the 2022 SummerSlam, as well as the in-ring WWE debut of Snoop Dogg, who both defeated The Miz in impromptu matches, with the latter occurring on Night 2.
In the main event for Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. This subsequently made Reigns the second wrestler after Hulk Hogan to enter three consecutive WrestleManias as world champion during the same reign but it made him the only wrestler to defend a world championship at each. In other prominent matches, Edge defeated "The Demon" Finn Bálor in a Hell in a Cell match, Gunther defeated Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match to retain SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship, Bianca Belair defeated Asuka to retain the Raw Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Brock Lesnar defeated Omos. Night 2 was also notable for the return of Shane McMahon, who last appeared at the 2022 Royal Rumble.
The event received generally positive reviews from critics; the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the SmackDown Women's Championship matches were singled out as highlights throughout the entire event, with the former two rated five stars by Dave Meltzer. Although noting the event's repetitiveness, critics also praised the Men's WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match, Logan Paul vs. Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, and the Hell in a Cell match. WWE's use of Auschwitz footage in a staged video promoting the Mysterio match drew criticism for exploiting genuine historic footage, leading WWE to apologize and state its inclusion was due to an editing error. At the time, the decision to have Reigns defeat Rhodes was met with severe, widespread criticism from fans and wrestling analysts, though it was received more positively in retrospect after WrestleMania XL.
Production
Background
is WWE's flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first PPV produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched the WWE Network in February 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 featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. On February 27, 2023, it was revealed that current WWE wrestler The Miz would serve as the host of the event. The official theme songs for the event were "Less than Zero" by The Weeknd and "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool & the Gang.On February 10, 2020, WWE announced that SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California would host WrestleMania 37 on Sunday, March 28, 2021, with the event being promoted as "WrestleMania 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. 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 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 officially announced that WrestleMania 37 had been relocated to Tampa, and that Inglewood would instead host WrestleMania 39 in 2023, with the aforementioned "Hollywood"-themed branding being carried over. WrestleMania 39 was the first since WrestleMania 21 to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh held in the state of California. 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. WrestleMania 39 was also the first to be held in an official Olympic Stadium as Sofi Stadium is one of the two main venues for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the third since the Pontiac Silverdome and the AT&T Stadium to be hosted in a FIFA World Cup venue as it is also one the stadiums to host matches for the 2026 edition of the tournament.
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 included 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 of the company since 1982. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, along with WWE president Nick Khan, took over as co-CEOs, and the former also took over as Chairwoman of WWE. Vince's son-in-law, Stephanie's husband, Triple H 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.