State Farm Stadium
The stadium hosted the WWE event WrestleMania XXVI which took place on March 28, 2010, with 72,219 fans in attendance. This was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania XI with a non-title match as a main event, the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Arizona and the third to be held in an open-air venue, after WrestleMania IX and WrestleMania XXIV. The event grossed $5.8 million in ticket sales, making the event the highest grossing and attended entertainment event held at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
WrestleMania XXV
The fifth annual Money in the Bank ladder match was announced for WrestleMania XXV on the February 23 episode of "Raw". The briefcase holds a symbolic contract which the holder would be able to exchange for a WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship match at any time or location of his choosing up until one year. To participate in the match, a wrestler had to first qualify for it by winning a match; this process began on the February 23 episode of "Raw", in which CM Punk qualified by defeating The Miz and John Morrison in a Triple Threat match. The next week of "Raw", Kane defeated Rey Mysterio and Mike Knox in another Triple Threat match. The next night on "ECW", Mark Henry qualified for the match by defeating Santino Marella. Both Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Shelton Benjamin qualified for the match on the March 6 episode of "SmackDown" by defeating Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy in respective singles matches. On the March 9 episode of "Raw", Kofi Kingston qualified by defeating Chris Jericho. Christian qualified the next night on "ECW" by winning a battle royal when he last eliminated Chavo Guerrero. Finlay was the final wrestler to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Kendrick on the March 13 episode of "SmackDown". Over the following weeks, the participants competed in eight-man tag team matches and an eight-man battle royal.
The buildup to WrestleMania XXV also included a rivalry between brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy. During Jeff's match against Edge at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship, Matt came down to the ring, appearing to help his brother. Instead, Matt turned on Jeff by hitting him with a steel chair, costing Jeff the match and his WWE title. After losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to MVP on the March 6 episode of "SmackDown", Matt interfered in Jeff's qualifying match later that night by punching Jeff's opponent, Shelton Benjamin, disqualifying Jeff from the match. A week later, Matt provoked Jeff even further by referring to Jeff's recent accidents, including Jeff's incident at the night of Survivor Series where he was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell (which caused him to be removed of the WWE title match and being replaced by Edge at that event), the recent account of someone driving Jeff off the road, and the misfiring of the pyrotechnics in his entrance. Matt then talked about the fire to Jeff's house a year prior, killing his dog, Jack. This ultimately led to Jeff retaliating against his brother after weeks of passive resistance. Later that night, it was announced that Matt and Jeff would fight each other at WrestleMania with a subsequent announcement a week later declaring the match to be held under Extreme Rules.