2023 WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
WrestleMania 39 (marketed as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood) was the 39th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It took place as a two-night event on Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California—the original location of WrestleMania 37 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to be relocated. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. WWE wrestler The Miz and rapper Snoop Dogg served as the hosts for the event.
WrestleMania 39 was the sixth to be held in Greater Los Angeles (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, and 21), and the seventh in the state of California overall (including 31, which was held in the San Francisco Bay Area). It was the first WrestleMania to livestream on Binge in Australia. This would subsequently be the final WrestleMania in which WWE was still 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 a new entity called 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 (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) 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.
Production.
Background.
WrestleMania is WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) 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 &amp; the Gang.
On February 10, 2020, WWE announced that SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California would host WrestleMania 37 on 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 (which was held at the same venue in February of that year). 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 (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, 21, and 31). 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 (WrestleMania III) and the AT&amp;T Stadium (32 and 38) 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 (CEO) 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—Paul "Triple H" Levesque 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.
Broadcast outlets.
In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view, WrestleMania 39 was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. It was also the first WrestleMania to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's streaming service Binge in January.
Celebrity involvement.
As is tradition at WrestleMania, celebrities outside of WWE were involved in various roles. Pop/reggaeton singer Becky G performed "America the Beautiful" for Night 1, while country singer Jimmie Allen did the same for Night 2. Actor and comedian Kevin Hart did the cold open for both nights of the event. Rapper and WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg co-hosted the event alongside The Miz, drove Rey Mysterio out for his entrance on Night 1 in a tribute to Eddie Guerrero, and wrestled an impromptu improvised match during Night 2. Rapper Bad Bunny was also a guest commentator on the Spanish commentary team for Mysterio's match. YouTuber, rapper, and boxer KSI was involved in Logan Paul's match on Night 1, disguised as the Prime energy drink mascot, a brand he co-owns with Paul. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle was in attendance and assisted Pat McAfee in his match against The Miz on Night 1. Rapper Lil Uzi Vert performed a portion of his song "Just Wanna Rock" prior to the main event of Night 1.
Other WrestleMania Week events.
As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE held a number of events throughout the week. The week kicked off with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of "Monday Night Raw" on March 27, held at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The night before WrestleMania 39 on March 31, WWE kicked off WrestleMania Weekend itself with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of "Friday Night SmackDown", which hosted the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, won by Bobby Lashley. Immediately after "SmackDown", the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony commenced. The day of WrestleMania Saturday, WWE's developmental brand NXT held its annual WrestleMania Week event, Stand &amp; Deliver. WrestleMania Week concluded with the "Raw" after WrestleMania on April 3. All of the weekend events were held live at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles.
On February 1, 12 WWE wrestlers participated in the filming of an episode of "Wheel of Fortune" for a WWE-themed week that aired during WrestleMania week. It featured the 1996–98 format of 12 players with the three highest scoring participants advancing to the Friday Finals, with the winning civilian earning a trip to WrestleMania. WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker also brought his "1 deadMAN Show" to Los Angeles during WrestleMania Weekend, which is a one-man touring show in which he tells stories from his 30-year career. It was held at The Novo at L.A. Live on March 31 at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
Promotional movie parodies.
Similar to WrestleMania 21, which also had a Hollywood theme, WrestleMania 39 was promoted on television with a series of parody movie and television trailers with WWE talent playing the starring roles from famous movies and shows.
These included:
Storylines.
The event included matches that each 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.
At WrestleMania 38, Cody Rhodes made a surprise return to WWE after having been away from the company for six years—during this time, he reestablished himself by wrestling in various other promotions and helped found All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in January 2019. At the same event, Roman Reigns became the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion by retaining SmackDown's Universal Championship and winning Raw's WWE Championship. On the "Raw" after WrestleMania, Rhodes stated that he returned to win the WWE Championship, not only for himself, but also for his late father, Dusty, who never won the title. In June, Rhodes suffered a pectoral injury, which sidelined him for several months.