World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is taking over the Dallas area this weekend. WrestleMania, pro wrestling’s largest event, will be held at the Dallas Cowboy’s AT&T Stadium over two days, April 2 and 3.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon described WrestleMania to D Magazine as “part rock concert, part Broadway theatrical, part drama, part comedy.”
This year marks the return of legendary WWE star Stone Cold Steve Austin for his first pseudo-wrestling match in 19 years. He will be facing off against Kevin Owens. There will also be big title matches like Charlotte Flair versus Ronda Rousey.
In a fight dubbed “the biggest WrestleMania match of all time,” current WWE champion Brock Lesnar faces WWE universal champion Roman Reigns in a title unification fight.
There will also be appearances from celebrities and musical acts. Social media star Logan Paul and Johnny Knoxville, the star from Jackass, are participating in their own matches. Knoxville will face off against WWE veteran and three-time Intercontinental champion Sami Zayn in an “Anything Goes” match on Sunday.
Country music stars Brantley Gilbert and Jesse James Decker will open the Saturday and Sunday shows, respectively, by singing “America the Beautiful.”
This weekend’s event will be WWE’s first WrestleMania in front of a capacity crowd since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, WrestleMania 36 was filmed without a live audience, and WrestleMania 37 last year in Tampa, Florida, took place in front of a limited-capacity crowd.
According to Monica Paul, executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission, the two-day-long spectacle will bring in more than $200 million for the Dallas-area economy. The estimate includes revenue from transportation, lodging, food and beverage, retail sales, business services, and recreational activities.
Fans from forty-seven countries and all fifty states are expected to come to Arlington for WrestleMania 38.
WrestleMania 32 in 2016 was also hosted in Arlington, and it generated over $170 million for the region. The spectacle also set the record for the best-attended WWE event at the time, with 101,763 fans in attendance.
“We like to do things bigger and better here in Dallas, and we want to see that happen again,” Paul told The Dallas Morning News.
Aside from WrestleMania, WWE’s weekly events will take also place in DFW. April 1’s Friday Night SmackDown and April 4’s Monday Night Raw will take place at the home of the Dallas Mavericks, the American Airlines Center.
Along with SmackDown on Friday night, the WWE will also induct its 2022 Hall of Fame Class.
This is the first time WWE has combined its Friday night show with the Hall of Fame ceremony. The WWE legend, The Undertaker, is the most notable wrestler being inducted, personally introduced by WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
