WrestleMania 37: Difference between revisions
2021 WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
| WrestleMania 37 | |||
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| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown |
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| Date | April 10–11, 2021[a] | ||
| City | Tampa, Florida | ||
| Venue | Raymond James Stadium[b] | ||
| Attendance | Night 1: 17,946[c][2] Night 2: 18,501[c][2] Combined: 40,806[c][2] |
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| Tagline(s) | Back in Business![3] | ||
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WrestleMania 37 was the 37th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion’s Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event was held as a two-night event, taking place on April 10 and 11, 2021, at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Following the merger of the WWE Network under Peacock in the United States in March 2021, WrestleMania 37 became the first major WWE event for which U.S. subscribers could only livestream the event via Peacock. WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Titus O’Neil served as the hosts of the event.
The event was originally scheduled to take place on March 28, 2021, at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California; however, due to COVID-19 restrictions in California, WWE rescheduled and moved the event to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which was the originally planned venue for WrestleMania 36 before the pandemic forced the event to be relocated and held behind closed doors at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida—in August 2020, Florida loosened its COVID-19 restrictions. As a result, the event marked the first time WWE had ticketed fans in attendance for an event during the COVID-19 pandemic, though to a limited capacity; the last WWE event to have ticketed fans was NXT on March 11, 2020, just before pandemic-related restrictions took effect. With the limited capacity, WWE claimed to have sold out of all available tickets and had an attendance of 25,675 spectators for each night, totaling 51,350 combined; however, this was disputed, with the actual number of tickets sold and the actual attendance number being around 20% lower than WWE’s claimed numbers for both nights.
The card comprised 14 matches that were evenly divided between the two nights and unlike previous years, there were no matches contested on either night’s Kickoff pre-show. In the main event for Night 1, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship. This was the first time two African Americans headlined WrestleMania, as well as the second time women headlined the event after WrestleMania 35. Other prominent matches saw singer Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeat The Miz and John Morrison, and in the opening bout, which was a main match for Raw, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship. In the main event for Night 2, which was SmackDown’s main match, Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan and Edge in a triple threat match to retain the Universal Championship. Also on the card, Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka to win the Raw Women’s Championship. Natalya and Tamina became the first women at this event to ever compete in two separate matches at a single WrestleMania.
This was the first WrestleMania since 2002 to not feature John Cena in any capacity; the first since 2012 to not feature Brock Lesnar; and the first since 1988 to not feature Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, or Triple H as in-ring competitors (though Triple H, in his capacity as a real-life executive for the company, appeared at the beginning of Night 1 to welcome fans back). It was also the first WrestleMania since 2010 to feature WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon onscreen, when he opened the event to welcome fans back to WrestleMania and to their first in-person WWE event in over a year.
Production[edit]
Background[edit]
WrestleMania is WWE‘s flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company’s first pay-per-view produced and was also WWE’s first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched the WWE Network in 2014. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April.[4] It was the first of WWE’s original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the “Big Four”.[5] WrestleMania is ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes,[6] and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.[7] Much like the Super Bowl, cities bid for the right to host the year’s edition of WrestleMania.[8] WrestleMania 37 featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions—unlike WrestleMania 36, it did not feature the NXT brand.[9] “Save Your Tears” by The Weeknd, “Head Up High” by Fitz, and “All The Gold” by def rebel were the official theme songs for the event.[10][11][12] WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Titus O’Neil served as the hosts of WrestleMania 37.[13]
WrestleMania 37 was originally to be held in the city of Inglewood, California at SoFi…