WrestleMania XL
WrestleMania XL was a 2024 professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 40th annual WrestleMania and took place as a two-night event on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, 2024, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the second WrestleMania to be held in Philadelphia, after WrestleMania XV in 1999.
This was the first WrestleMania held after WWE merged with the Endeavor subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship in September 2023, under the banner of TKO Group Holdings. It was subsequently the first WrestleMania under TKO and the first not directly under McMahon family control. It was also the final WrestleMania to livestream on the standalone WWE Network in most international markets as the service moved to Netflix in January 2025, with only a select few territories still maintaining the WWE Network due to pre-existing contracts.
The card comprised a total of 14 matches, evenly divided between each night. In the main event for Night 1, The Bloodline defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins in a tag team match, which made the stipulation of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match on Night 2 a Bloodline Rules match. In other prominent matches, Sami Zayn defeated Gunther to win Raw's Intercontinental Championship, ending Gunther's record 666-day title reign, and in the opening bout, Rhea Ripley defeated Becky Lynch to retain Raw's Women's World Championship.
In the main event for Night 2, Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match to win SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, ending Reigns's record 1,316-day world title reign. In other prominent matches, Bayley defeated Iyo Sky to win SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship, Logan Paul defeated Randy Orton and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to retain SmackDown's United States Championship, and in the opening bout, Drew McIntyre defeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins to win Raw's World Heavyweight Championship, after which, Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated McIntyre to win the title. This was also WWE's final PPV and livestreaming event for the tag team championships to carry a brand name, as a week after the event, the Raw and SmackDown tag team championships were renamed as the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship, respectively.
The event received positive critical reception: Night 2's main event received acclaim for its storytelling and satisfying conclusion, while praise was given to all other championship matches on the card.
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, featuring wrestlers from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. 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 was 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 WrestleMania. The official theme song for the event was "Gasoline" by The Weeknd, which marked the fifth consecutive year that a Weeknd song was used for WrestleMania.On July 27, 2022, it was announced that Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, would host WrestleMania 40 on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, 2024. Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney welcomed WWE to the city, noting the economic boost from visiting fans. The event's logo was revealed on October 8, 2022, during the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show at the nearby Wells Fargo Center. Themed after the Liberty Bell and in the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles, it incorporated Roman numerals for the first time since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, thus officially stylizing the title as WrestleMania XL. Tickets for the event went on sale on August 18, 2023. Over 90,000 tickets were sold on the first day for both nights combined, breaking WWE's record set by the prior year's WrestleMania.
From January 2023, there had been speculation that WWE had been placed up for sale. Hours before WrestleMania 39 Night 2 began, CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between WWE and Endeavor, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship via Zuffa, was imminent. The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new publicly traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake. The sale was confirmed the next day on April 3, 2023, and was finalized on September 12, with WWE merging with the UFC to become divisions of TKO Group Holdings. WrestleMania XL was in turn the first WrestleMania held in which WWE was not owned and controlled by the McMahon family, and subsequently the first WrestleMania under TKO.
Broadcast outlets
WrestleMania XL was broadcast live on traditional pay-per-view worldwide. Additionally, it was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Disney+ in the Philippines, Binge in Australia, Abema in Japan, SonyLIV in India, Shahid and SSC in the Middle East and North Africa, and the WWE Network in all other countries.Additionally, the event streamed live on Netflix in New Zealand, as a technical stress test for when the promotion's new contract with Netflix came into effect in January 2025. As a result of said contract, all WWE Network content moved to Netflix in most countries where the former was still available as a standalone service, making WrestleMania XL the final WrestleMania event to livestream on the WWE Network in those areas. A select few territories still maintain the standalone WWE Network due to pre-existing contracts, but will eventually merge under Netflix once those contracts expire.
Other WrestleMania week events
As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE held a number of events throughout the week. WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker presented his 1 deadMAN Show on Thursday, April 4 at The Fillmore Philadelphia. From that same day through April 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, there was a fan convention called WWE World at WrestleMania. In partnership with Fanatics Events, the five-day event included interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers, 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. WWE World replaced the WrestleMania Fan Axxess event that had been held at each year's WrestleMania prior to WrestleMania 36 in 2020. WWE commentator Pat McAfee also hosted live editions of his eponymous ESPN afternoon show at WWE World on Friday, April 5, and Monday April 8.The week kicked off with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Monday Night Raw, held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The night before WrestleMania XL on April 5, WWE kicked off WrestleMania Weekend with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Friday Night SmackDown, which featured the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, won by Bronson Reed. Immediately after SmackDown, the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony commenced. The afternoon of WrestleMania Saturday, WWE's NXT brand held its annual WrestleMania Week event, Stand & Deliver. WrestleMania Week concluded with the post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw on April 8. These events were held live at the nearby Wells Fargo Center.
Between all of the WrestleMania Weekend events, WWE announced a grand total attendance of 201,924.
Celebrity involvement
WrestleMania also features celebrity appearances from those outside of wrestling, who participated at the event in various capacities, such as rapper and Philadelphia native Meek Mill, who narrated the cold open for the event on both nights.On Night 1, Grammy Award winning R&B singer and actress Coco Jones opened the show by performing "The Star-Spangled Banner". Grammy winning rapper Lil Wayne also debuted his latest single during the event. Philadelphia Eagles offensive linemen Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson were involved in the Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs. Santos Escobar and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio tag team match, aiding Rey and Andrade. Metalcore band Motionless In White appeared and performed the theme song of Rhea Ripley called "Demon In Your Dreams".
On Night 2, Country music duo The War and Treaty performed "God Bless America" to open the show. WWE Hall of Famer and rapper Snoop Dogg was on commentary for the Philadelphia Street Fight, and returned later alongside the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders to announce the evening's attendance. Rapper and YouTuber IShowSpeed accompanied Logan Paul to the ring for his WWE United States Championship defense.
Storylines
The event included 14 matches, split evenly between both nights, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.Main event matches
After Cody Rhodes made his return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, he declared he would finish his story by winning the WWE Championship, a title his father Dusty Rhodes never held. Also at WrestleMania 38, Roman Reigns became the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion by retaining the WWE Universal Championship and winning the WWE Championship. Rhodes subsequently won the 2023 Royal Rumble match but failed to defeat Reigns for the undisputed title at WrestleMania 39. A year later, prior to the 2024 Royal Rumble at Raw: Day 1 on January 1, The Rock made a surprise appearance and seemingly called out Reigns by asking if he should sit at the "head of the table", a reference to their relationship through the Anoaʻi family as for over three years, Reigns had claimed he was the Head of the Table and Tribal Chief of The Bloodline, a faction of wrestlers from the family that, at the time, included Reigns and his cousins Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa, managed by Paul Heyman.File:The Rock in 2024.jpg|thumb|The Rock competed in his first match since WrestleMania 32 in 2016 when he teamed up with Roman Reigns to face Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins in a tag team match on Night 1.|275x275px
Rhodes again won the Royal Rumble match in 2024. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship after WrestleMania 39, Rhodes received a choice of which world title to challenge for at WrestleMania XL. During the Royal Rumble post-event press conference, Rhodes stated that he wanted to face Reigns again for SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, but on the January 29 episode of Raw, Seth "Freakin" Rollins argued that Rhodes should instead challenge him for Raw's World Heavyweight Championship. On that week's SmackDown, Rhodes announced that he would not challenge Reigns at WrestleMania and said that one of the individuals he took counsel from in making his decision knew Reigns very well. Rock then came out and stared down Reigns, with the clear implication that he would be Reigns's WrestleMania opponent instead. This decision drew intense fan backlash with the hashtag #WeWantCody trending on social media worldwide, which caused WWE to legitimately pivot their story plans. A WrestleMania XL Kickoff media event was then held on February 8 where Reigns and Rock declared that they would face each other for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania XL, which Rock dubbed as "the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling". However, Rhodes appeared and asserted that since he won the Royal Rumble, he earned the right to decide the main event and announced that he had reversed his decision and would challenge Reigns for the title at WrestleMania. After bringing up each other's families, Rock claimed that he and Rhodes now had issues and he slapped Rhodes in the face, turning heel for the first time since 2003. In the ensuing brawl, Rollins backed Rhodes.
File:Roman Reigns, WrestleMania XL 3.jpg|thumb|220px|WrestleMania XL marked Roman Reigns' fourth consecutive defense of the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania, and his second as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. In main eventing both nights, Reigns set the record for most WrestleMania main event matches.
On the following SmackDown, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H affirmed that the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania XL would be Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Rhodes. On the February 12 episode of Raw, Rhodes claimed that it was because of the fans that he reversed his decision and decided to challenge Reigns. Rollins interrupted and stated that he understood Rhodes's decision and offered to be his backup due to Reigns always having his family in his corner. In response on that week's SmackDown, Rock officially joined The Bloodline and vowed that he would do everything in his power to ensure Rhodes did not finish his story.
At Elimination Chamber on February 24, Rhodes challenged Rock to a one-on-one match at any time, and Rollins again asserted that he would be in Rhodes's corner in facing The Bloodline. On the following SmackDown, Rock rejected Rhodes's challenge and instead offered a counter: a tag team match featuring Rhodes and Rollins against Rock and Reigns in the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania XL with an added stipulation that if Rhodes and Rollins won, then The Bloodline would be barred from ringside during the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match on Night 2; however, if Rock and Reigns won, then the championship match would be contested under The Bloodline's rules in which anything goes. Rhodes and Rollins appeared on the next week's episode where they accepted the challenge.