WrestleMania 38

**WrestleMania 38** is the upcoming 38th annual WrestleMania professional wrestlingpay-per-view and livestreaming  event produced by WWE. It will be held for wrestlers from the promotion Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event will be held as a two-night event, taking place on April 2 and 3, 2022, at the AT&T Stadium in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex city of Arlington, Texas.

 City
Night 2: 78,453
 Tagline(s)

NXT Stand & Deliver
WrestleMania Backlash

37
39

The event was the fourth WrestleMania to be held in the state of Texas (after X-Seven, 25, and 32) and the second in AT&T Stadium after WrestleMania 32 in 2016.

## Production

### Background

WrestleMania is considered WWE's flagship live event, having first been held in 1985. It is the longest-running annual professional wrestling event in history and is held between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views (PPVs), including Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were originally dubbed the "Big Four", and as of October 2021, it is one of the company's five biggest events of the year, along with Money in the Bank, 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. WrestleMania 38 featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.The official theme songs for the event were "Sacrifice" by The Weeknd and "I Feel Good" by Pitbull, Anthony Watts, and DJWS.

On January 16, 2021, in addition to announcing the date and location change of WrestleMania 37, which had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the promotion revealed the dates and locations of the next two WrestleMania events. WrestleMania 38 was announced to be held at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. It was originally scheduled to be held solely on April 3, 2022; however, on October 25, 2021, it was revealed that like the previous two WrestleMania events, WrestleMania 38 was expanded to take place over two nights: Saturday, April 2, and Sunday, April 3, 2022. It was the fourth WrestleMania to be held in the state of Texas (after X-Seven, 25, and 32) and the second to be held in this venue, after WrestleMania 32 in 2016, which set the attendance record for a WrestleMania event at 101,763, which was, however, disputed. Travel packages became available on November 8, 2021, while general tickets went on sale on November 12.

### Broadcast outlets

WrestleMania 38 was available on traditional pay-per-view. It was also available through the online streaming services Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets. Additionally, WWE partnered with Fathom Events to air both nights of WrestleMania 38 in movie theaters across the United States.

### Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. 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.

On March 3, 2022, WWE Chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahonmade a rare media appearance for a live interview on The Pat McAfee Show. During the interview, McMahon offered Pat McAfee a match at WrestleMania 38. McAfee primarily served as the color commentator on SmackDown, but gladly accepted and McMahon stated that he would find him an opponent. On the following night's episode of SmackDown, Raw's Austin Theory, who had been under the tutelage of McMahon for the past several weeks, revealed himself as McAfee's opponent at WrestleMania 38. This marked McAfee's first match since NXT TakeOver: WarGames in December 2020.

Jackass actor and stuntman Johnny Knoxville, who took on Sami Zayn in an Anything Goes match.

At Day 1, Jackass actor and stuntmanJohnny Knoxville announced that he would be participating in the men's Royal Rumble match. Sami Zayn took issue of this, claiming that Knoxville was not qualified to compete, nor did he earn the opportunity. After Zayn lost his match on the following SmackDown, Knoxville ran down to the ring and threw Zayn over the top rope, and ring announcer Mike Rome then announced that Knoxville had officially qualified for the Royal Rumble match, much to Zayn's displeasure. The two faced off in the Royal Rumble match where Zayn eliminated Knoxville. After Zayn had invited himself to the red carpet premiere of Jackass Forever, for which he was kicked out, Knoxville then invited himself to Zayn's celebration for winning the Intercontinental Championship. Knoxville challenged Zayn for the title at WrestleMania 38, but Zayn declined.During Zayn's championship defense on the March 4 episode, Knoxville distracted Zayn, costing him the title. An enraged Zayn then challenged Knoxville to a match at WrestleMania 38, which Knoxville accepted. After Knoxville shared Zayn's phone number, causing a multitude of people attempting to contact Zayn, Zayn changed the stipulation to an Anything Goes match at WrestleMania and Knoxville accepted.

For weeks, Seth "Freakin" Rollinsattempted to get a spot at WrestleMania. After failing to defeat Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to take their respective spots, Vince McMahon summoned Rollins into his office on the morning of March 28. McMahon stated that he would choose an opponent for Rollins to face at WrestleMania 38 and the opponent would be revealed at the event itself while Rollins was waiting in the ring on WrestleMania Saturday.

## Results

Announced Matches

Night 1
 4
 * (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Night 2
 9