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WWE WrestleMania Will Beat The Super Bowl By A Year To LA's New Stadium
John Cena picks up Randy Orton during WWE's Monday Night Raw show August 2009. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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The Super Bowl's heading to L.A.'s new SoFi Stadium in 2022, future home of both the Rams and the Chargers. But first, body slams. The stadium will host the biggest show in "sports entertainment" next year when WWE brings WrestleMania to SoFi in 2021.
It's our fourth WrestleMania — sixth if you include the two that took place in Anaheim. (Or five-and-a-third if you don't really count WrestleMania 2, which was held at three venues in different cities simultaneously).
The last L.A. Mania was in 2005 at Staples Center, headlined by Triple H vs. Batista (aka Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy) and JBL vs. new Fast and Furious star John Cena.
Our most infamous WrestleMania was in 1991, when Hulk Hogan took on a Sgt. Slaughter whose character had turned against the United States. It was moved from the L.A. Coliseum to the smaller Sports Arena, claiming it was due to security concerns around the Gulf War — but was actually due to low ticket sales.
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In a press release, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti touted the economic boost next year's event will provide. Vince McMahon (whose reborn XFL recently launched) took his own verbal victory lap.
"WrestleMania will set the bar for future sports and entertainment events held at SoFi Stadium as we add this facility to the list of iconic venues that have hosted our pop-culture extravaganza," McMahon said.
The 2021 WrestleMania isn't the only show that weekend. WWE will also be holding their Smackdown, NXT TakeOver, and Raw shows at the Staples Center, while fan convention Axxess and the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will be at the L.A. Convention Center.
This year's WrestleMania takes place April 5 in Tampa Bay, shown on the streaming WWE Network.
#WrestleMania 37 will go Hollywood when it emanates from @SoFiStadium in Los Angeles on March 28, 2021! pic.twitter.com/r3OWRNYddl
— WWE (@WWE) February 10, 2020
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