WrestleMania XL

WrestleMania XL is the upcoming 40th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event is scheduled to be held as a two-night event, taking place on April 6 and 7, 2024, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This will be the second WrestleMania to be held in the city of Philadelphia and in the state of Pennsylvania, after WrestleMania XV in 1999. WrestleMania XL will also be the first WrestleMania in which WWE is not owned and controlled by the McMahon family after the company was sold to Endeavor. The sale was finalized in September 2023, with WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship merging to become divisions of a new entity called TKO Group Holdings, subsequently marking the first WrestleMania under TKO.
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 XL will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. In addition to airing on traditional PPV, it will be available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets.
On July 27, 2022, it was announced that Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would host WrestleMania 40 on April 6 and 7, 2024. The logo was revealed on October 8, 2022, during the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show at the nearby Wells Fargo Center. Themed after the Liberty Bell and in the colors of the Philadelphia Eagles, it incorporates Roman numerals for the first time since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, thus officially stylizing the title as WrestleMania XL. Tickets for the event went on sale on August 18, 2023. Over 90,000 tickets were sold on the first day for both nights combined, breaking WWE's record set by the prior year's WrestleMania.
From January 2023, there had been speculation that WWE had been placed up for sale. Hours before WrestleMania 39 Night 2 began, CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between WWE and Endeavor, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) via Zuffa, was imminent. The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new publicly traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake. The sale was confirmed the next day on April 3, 2023, and was finalized on September 12, with WWE merging with the UFC to become divisions of TKO Group Holdings. WrestleMania XL will in turn be the first WrestleMania held in which WWE was not owned and controlled by the McMahon family, and subsequently the first WrestleMania under TKO.
Storylines
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
References
External links
2024 WWE Network events
2024 WWE pay-per-view events
2024 in Pennsylvania
April 2024 sports events
Events in Philadelphia
WrestleMania
Scheduled professional wrestling shows
Professional wrestling in Philadelphia