Tag: wrestlemania 38

Becky Lynch enjoyed WWE WrestleMania 38 more than WrestleMania 35

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Becky Lynch’s WrestleMania 35 triumph isn’t her favorite WrestleMania moment of all time.

History was made in 2019 when Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair became the first women to ever headline WrestleMania. Lynch defeated Rousey and Charlotte in the WrestleMania 35 main event to win both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s titles.

But despite that being such a defining moment of her career, it’s not Lynch’s favorite WrestleMania. Lynch told Sports Illustrated that she actually enjoyed her WrestleMania 38 loss to Bianca Belair more:

I enjoyed WrestleMania 38 where I lost to Bianca more than I enjoyed WrestleMania 35. I think Daniel Bryan said something similar, as well, about enjoying his WrestleMania match against Kofi [at WrestleMania 35] than he did WrestleMania 30. It’s weird like that. Sometimes, what we enjoy in terms of our artistic expression aren’t always the stories that audiences revere the most.

Lynch explained that she had more creative freedom at WrestleMania 38 due to being a heel:

When you were a top babyface [in Vince McMahon’s WWE], you were micromanaged a little more. At WrestleMania 38, I had more freedom creatively. When you’re the villain, you’re making the crowd like someone else. There’s a lot of fun in putting the shine on someone else.

Belair is one of Lynch’s favorite opponents. She recently named Belair and Charlotte as her in-ring “soulmates.”

Lynch’s memoir, “Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl,” was released last week. In her interview with Sports Illustrated, Lynch said WrestleMania 35 was one of the hardest subjects to write about in the book:

That’s the girlhood-dream-come-true moment. Everyone asks me, ‘How did I feel?’ I felt everything, but I also felt nothing. It’s this weird juxtaposition. I made it, but had anything changed? There were fireworks, but my internal landscape wasn’t any different. I found it one of the harder things to write about in my book. That’s the thing people want to read about it. I understand that–it’s the culmination.

Then the next night I’m brought back to earth when I had to do a segment with Lacey Evans on one-hour sleep while Vince was yelling at me in Gorilla. On the flip side, there was the confidence and the cockiness I walked around with leading up to that match at WrestleMania 35.

Ultimately, it wasn’t my destination. It was another important stop on my journey.

At WrestleMania 40, Lynch will have another big moment as she challenges Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship. Lynch has said that she thinks her match against Ripley will be part of the card for night one of WrestleMania 40 this Saturday (April 6).

New WWE 24 documentary to premiere this month

Posted on by Joseph Currier

For the first time in nearly a year, WWE 24 is returning with a new episode.

It was announced today that a new WWE 24 documentary will premiere on Peacock/WWE Network on Monday, March 27. The documentary will focus on WrestleMania 38 and the behind the scenes of the event.

WrestleMania 38 took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas last April. Night one was headlined by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin returning to the ring for his first match in nearly two decades. After appearing on the KO Show with Kevin Owens, Austin defeated Owens in a no holds barred match.

On night two of WrestleMania 38, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to unify the Universal Championship with the WWE Championship. Reigns has remained the undisputed champion since then and will defend the title against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39.

WrestleMania 38 also featured Cody Rhodes’ WWE return, Logan Paul’s in-ring debut, and celebrity matches involving Johnny Knoxville and Pat McAfee.

This will be the first new WWE 24 episode since a documentary covering Royal Rumble 2022 was released in April of last year.

July 18, 2022 Observer Newsletter: More details on Vince McMahon hush money payments, WrestleMania 38 business

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

A second Wall Street Journal story contained more details on payments of $12 million to four women, most notably $7.5 million to one woman, to sign nondisclosure agreements not to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity involving Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis over the past 16 years.

The story was written by Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann, who did the first story talking about a $3 million payment to a woman who worked both as a paralegal and later as the assistant to Laurinaitis in talent relations.

The first story got significant mainstream news attention and led to a brief stock price drop, although it did rebound to back in the range of what it was at the time the article dropped. The first story also led to a short significant boost in television ratings and appearances on the air by Vince McMahon in front of cheering audiences.

The second story got less attention and led to no television ratings boost nor did McMahon appear on television after it came out.

Subscribers can read this week’s issue here.

WWE touts economic impact of WrestleMania 38

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE and the Dallas/Arlington region are touting the economic impact that WrestleMania 38 brought to Texas.

In a press release that was issued by WWE on Monday, it was announced that WrestleMania 38 generated $206.5 million in economic impact for the Dallas/Arlington region this April. The two-night event took place at AT&T Stadium, which is the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

 WWE wrote that this “marks a new company record and the first time in history that WrestleMania has generated more than $200 million in economic impact.”

This was the first time that a two-night WrestleMania was held with full-capacity crowds.

The economic impact study was conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation. The study notes that:

$206.5 million in direct, indirect and induced impact derived from spending by visitors to the Dallas/Arlington region for WrestleMania.

67 percent of fans that attended WrestleMania were from outside the Dallas/Arlington region and stayed an average of 3.5 nights.

$25.4 million was spent on hotels and accommodations within the Dallas/Arlington region.
The economic impact derived from WrestleMania Week was equal to the creation of 1,777 full-time jobs for the area.

“On behalf of the city of Arlington, we congratulate WWE and their fans for surpassing $200 million in economic impact for the first time in WrestleMania history,” said Arlington Mayor Jim Ross. “We are glad to have shared this success and look forward to the opportunity for AT&T Stadium to host a future WrestleMania.”

“We are thrilled that WrestleMania’s return to full capacity generated stupendous record results for our partners in Dallas and Arlington, showcasing the continued growth for WWE’s largest annual celebration,” said WWE Executive Vice President of Special Events John P. Saboor. “This success would not have been possible without the tireless support of Mayor Johnson, Mayor Ross, Charlotte Jones and the entire Jones family, the Dallas Cowboys organization, Dallas Sports Commission, American Airlines Center and the rest of our public and private sector partners throughout the region. We now turn our focus to next year’s WrestleMania in Hollywood.”

Steve Austin feeling ‘100 percent’ physically after WWE WrestleMania 38 return

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Steve Austin is feeling good physically after making his return to the ring at WrestleMania 38.

In what was his first match since 2003, Austin defeated Kevin Owens in an impromptu no holds barred match in the main event of WrestleMania 38 night one. Austin then also got involved physically at night two of WrestleMania, dishing out stunners to Vince McMahon, Theory, and Pat McAfee.

During an appearance on the Brewbound Podcast following WrestleMania, Austin said he’s feeling 100 percent physically after his first in-ring action in nearly 20 years.

Oh, I’m 100 percent. I picked up a little bit of a cold the other day, but I’m back home in Nevada. Shoot, Sunday, I was 100 percent. And of course went back into action on Sunday, did a little extra physicality as a part of the show. But, you know, it’s just an exciting time for me to go back to a business that I really, really love. And, you know, I never thought I’d be back in a ring — but there we were headlining, main event for the — headlining WrestleMania for night one. And it was just truly an honor to be out there and really excited to be able to — just like the last few times I’ve been able to drink our beer, Broken Skull IPA, out in the ring. Couple of years ago we got a lot of exposure from that and just a real proud moment because when El Segundo [Brewing Company] and myself decided to come out with a lager, which is what everybody was wanting, which is really satisfying because I’ve drank everybody’s beer in the past. I’ve been drinking beer my whole life and I don’t speak technical beer language, but we’ve given all those other brands a little bit of a rub by using their beers. So, to go out there and drink our own beer was very satisfying.

Austin was also asked if we’ll see him in action again at WrestleMania 39 next year. Austin said he thinks he’s done having matches, but he’ll be at WrestleMania 39 in some capacity if Vince McMahon asks him to be involved with the show.

Well [laughs], for me to participate in WrestleMania 38, if you would’ve told me, ‘Hey man, you’re gonna be a part of WrestleMania 38. Not only that, you’re gonna main event night one.’ I would’ve said you’re full of sh*t and you’re crazy. and there I was in Dallas, Texas headlining main event on day one, so never say never. But I would really imagine that within the scope of that show, that’s gonna be a big show in a big-time city and it’ll be a two-night event again, so I’m not– I’m sure I’m done wrestling per se, but as a part of WWE, I can’t imagine I would not be there in some capacity and I’m not booking myself on the show because I didn’t book myself on 38. That’s a Vince thing and I have a great relationship with him and if I get the call, I’ll be there.

WrestleMania 39 is being held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Saturday, April 1, 2023 and Sunday, April 2, 2023.

WrestleMania 38 sets records for WWE in social media metrics

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE is continuing to tout the success of WrestleMania 38.

In an article posted by Variety today, it was reported that WrestleMania 38 set records for WWE in social media engagement. According to data from analytics firm Conviva, WrestleMania 38 had a 47 percent increase in views across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter as compared to WrestleMania 37 in 2021.  WrestleMania 38 content had 1.1 billion views combined on those social media platforms.

WrestleMania 38 was WWE’s third consecutive two-night WrestleMania and the first two-night WrestleMania to be held without any COVID-19 restrictions.

WrestleMania 38 had 13 million hours of video viewed on all social platforms, up 29 percent from last year’s event. The 2.2 billion social impressions the show had was up 10 percent from last year.

Cody Rhodes’ return and Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory/Vince McMahon were WWE’s two posts that drew the most engagement.

WWE stated that WrestleMania 38 beat this year’s Super Bowl in social media metrics according to Conviva’s data, though the Super Bowl is a one-night event.

WrestleMania 38 beat Super Bowl LVI with 2.2 billion social media impressions for WWE vs. 1.8 billion impressions for the NFL.

WWE won in video views with WrestleMania at 1.1 billion vs. Super Bowl at 618 million.

WWE won in engagements with WrestleMania at 87 million vs. Super Bowl at 78 million.

WWE won in video watch time with WrestleMania at 13.1 million hours vs. Super Bowl at 3.56 million hours.

On the Raw after WrestleMania, Paul Heyman claimed that WrestleMania 38 was up 58 percent in Peacock viewership from WrestleMania 37.

April 11, 2022 Observer Newsletter: WrestleMania 38 weekend, Cody Rhodes returns to WWE

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

WrestleMania regained its former status lost in recent years due to the pandemic, with two shows that have pushed interest in WWE to the highest level it has been in many years.

The shows on 4/2 and 4/3 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas were filled with highlights, some lowlights, and a lot in between.

As far as the big stories went:

*In the match promoted as the biggest main event in WrestleMania history, Roman Reigns became the Undisputed Universal champion by beating WWE champion Brock Lesnar. The win was clean, no distraction, no interference, using a spear. The match was similar to most Lesnar matches, basically a collection of finishing and near-finishing moves done over and over until one gets the pin or submission. Reigns has also been doing more of this style, which is very much the Paul Heyman trademark to appeal to those with short attention spans.

The guys do those moves well, so at no point was the match bad. But the finish was sudden and while a good match, came nowhere close to the hype. It was surprising Lesnar would lose so clean if he is sticking around. He was billed for future PPVs, but this clearly was the blow-off of Lesnar vs. Reigns, and this feud ended with Reigns getting two wins and Lesnar zero. Plus Heyman turned on Lesnar in the build-up, rather than at Mania, which would have at least kept the door open to continue things.

Reigns is supposed to announce his next direction on the 4/8 Smackdown show from Milwaukee. In theory, this means, until they inevitably create a new major title, that Reigns will appear on both Raw and Smackdown for the time being. With Lesnar and Reigns wrecking almost everyone in the build-up, there are few viable challengers out there. Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, and Bobby Lashley got the big wins, but Lashley is programmed now with Omos after MVP turned on Lashley to go with Omos.

While Reigns vs. Rhodes would be the biggest title match they could do today, and Rhodes heavily pushed it on television, it’s probably best to wait. Actually, for pure one-night business, the faster they go with it the better because the lure of AEW superstar vs. WWE champion means more out of the blocks. Once Rhodes is established as a “WWE guy,” that aspect of the draw, which would be the biggest, is gone or dissipated greatly. As far as for the long-term storytelling, that match would be better served at SummerSlam. But timing is everything in a match like that. If you look at history and these scenarios of the “inter-promotional dream match,” it is almost always gigantic if done right away and usually doesn’t mean as much if done later. Even last year when Reigns went through everyone, there was a clear WrestleMania destination with Lesnar or The Rock.

Now, the only destination is Rock, but if that happens, it’s a year away. And there is no guarantee that will happen.

Current subscribers can read the rest of this week’s issue here.

Sami Zayn: WWE WrestleMania 38 match with Johnny Knoxville ‘one of my all time favorites’

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Sami Zayn says that his WrestleMania 38 anything goes match against Johnny Knoxville is “as good as it gets” and one of his “all time favorites.”

Zayn posted his thoughts on the Knoxville match today on social media. 

“My Wrestlemania match against Johnny Knoxville is one of my all time favorites. Definitely one of the matches I’m most proud of. I’ve had a lot of great matches in my career, I’d put this up with any of them. Anyone who saw this match will remember it. That’s as good as it gets.”

Knoxville defeated Zayn in a slapstick brawl that featured cameos from Jackass’s Party Boy and Wee Man, pinning Zayn as he was stuck in a giant mousetrap. 

Knoxville responded to Zayn’s sentiments in an Instagram comment: 

“I hate to say anything nice so I won’t. So suck it Sami!!”

Knoxville and Zayn’s feud began in the build to the 2022 Royal Rumble. Knoxville “qualified” for the match by throwing Zayn over the top rope on SmackDown, then Zayn eliminated Knoxville from the Rumble match. 

The feud continued with Zayn crashing Knoxville’s Jackass Forever movie premiere, and being ejected from the event by security. The feud culminated in the WrestleMania bout.

We’re Live, Pal: RAW after WrestleMania is dead, highs and lows of WrestleMania 38

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

It’s a brand new episode of We’re Live, Pal. Andrew Zarian and I take a look at the RAW after WrestleMania and wonder if it’s dead as a hot show. 

We debate Cody’s promo on the show. Was it a great, organic promo, or was it too much of a rehearsed performance? We also wonder what the deal is with Edge and Damian Priest.

We go over the highs and lows of WrestleMania 38, including seeing Austin vs. McMahon for possibly the final time. 

Enjoy the latest We’re Live, Pal in podcast form below or on YouTube above.

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Logan Paul discusses WWE WrestleMania 38 experience

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Logan Paul opened up about his experience wrestling a match at WrestleMania 38 this past weekend.

On his Impaulsive podcast, Paul talked about teaming with The Miz to take on The Mysterios, noting he had not practiced some of the moves he did during the match.

“By the way, I didn’t practice any of those moves,” Paul claimed. “That surface is hard. It’s not bouncy. There’s no give, there’s wood. You can’t do those moves in practice because it compromises the body.”

He mentioned he had never practiced a suplex before taking one. He also mentioned that the adrenaline between wrestling a match and doing a boxing match was completely different. 

Paul also thought that WWE liked him because he didn’t have a WWE fanbase, and perhaps sees him as bridging a gap between his and WWE’s fanbases.

“I think that’s why they like me here. I believe part of my value is bridging the gap between the mainstream and WWE world. If I do end up getting more involved, I would love to bridge that gap with creativity. I think there’s a way to make some sort of mainstream cultural phenomenon with WWE.”

Paul teamed up with The Miz to defeat Rey and Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 38 this past weekend. After the match, however, The Miz turned on Paul, laying him out with the Skull Crashing Finale. 

Logan Paul’s deal with WWE included babyface turn

Posted on by Ian Carey

Logan Paul’s deal with WWE included an agreement that he would turn babyface. 

Following their victory over the Mysterios at WrestleMania 38, The Miz turned on Paul and gave him a Skull-Crushing Finale. Our own Dave Meltzer noted on Monday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, that Paul turning babyface was part of his agreement with WWE. 

“When they made the deal with Logan Paul to do this angle, part of the deal was when the angle is over, he’d be a babyface. That was the idea. That was negotiated, that was negotiated in the deal,” Meltzer said.  

During an interview with TalkSport last month, Paul said he was interested in helping behind-the-scenes and with creative in WWE. 

“If I continue my involvement in WWE, hopefully I can bring stuff to the table that switches it up. I’m an innovator and I’m always here to pitch ideas and at the end of the day I’m creative. If I can get more involved in the behind the scenes stuff with Vince’s approval, that would be fun,” he said. 

Wrestling Observer Radio: RAW after WrestleMania 2022, business notes, more!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including WrestleMania weekend fallout, all the business numbers, ratings, the RAW after WrestleMania and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Start: Raziel passes away

1:25: WrestleMania weekend business notes

6:55: Ratings, more WrestleMania notes

20:30: Raw recap 

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Daily Update: WWE Raw, Gable Steveson, WrestleMania

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Triple H announces in-ring retirement, WrestleMania weekend

The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is out right now. Among the highlights are:

  • The far more important story regarding Paul Levesque than his retirement from wrestling, which is his health, what he went through, and how that impacts his future both in and out of wrestling
  • WWE weekend shows, cards, ticket sales, secondary market sales, comps, Saturday main event, key results regarding the main event scene, the Hall of Fame, Shad Gaspard, Undertaker and NXT Stand & Deliver.
  • 2021 Shad Gaspard/Jonathan Huber award winners
  • New Japan Cup final coverage, the angles building to Sumo Hall, MVP, best match poll and the final two shows.
  • Stardom’s two shows at Sumo Hall. A look at the key matches and what is next for the largest women’s wrestling company in the world.
  • Finances of UFC and WWE, including how they are so similar as businesses as well as where they are different. We also look at the key business deal each has that doesn’t involve TV rights and how WWE got so much of a better deal with a product that otherwise would have driven one-quarter the revenue and why
  • Full coverage of this week’s UFC show
  • Who was the best college heavyweight of all-time
  • More on the arrest of Chael Sonnen, why the felony charge was dropped and the lawsuit regarding the case
  • Ric Flair and Mark Madden
  • TV ratings and key points from those ratings for every show this week including peak segments, what type of viewers each show generates, who draws the youngest audience and how the shows rank with all of television and in the sports world.
  • The return of the Universal champion of champions tournament
  • More notes on the second Triplemania show this year
  • Notes on New Japan US shows
  • The wrestling career and post-wrestling life of the former Rocky King
  • Ticket sales for upcoming shows
  • Why UFC is running in Singapore in June
  • UFC star elected into wrestilng Hall of Fame
  • International wrestling TV ratings

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter: February 7, 2005 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble review, business year in review

Ordering Info: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].

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Monday News Update

  • Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw as well as the latest wrestling and MMA news. You can send questions for tonight’s show to [email protected]
  • Raw tonight is the final show from Dallas. Not much has been announced. The big thing will be the Cody Rhodes promo. Rhodes is slated for the Raw brand going forward. The idea is for it to be memorable promo. Roman Reigns will be on the show and Veer is supposed to make his debut. The University of Kansas vs. North Carolina final of the NCAA tournament starts at 9:20 p.m. Eastern so the first hour plus won’t be going against the game. The game will hurt, but the Raw after Mania often goes against the NCAA finals and is still usually the highest or among the highest numbers of the year. In theory this should be the top number of the year coming off good numbers last Monday and Friday.
  • Gable Steveson will not be on Raw tonight as he flew back home to Minnesota according to PW Insider. He will be in as a regular after the college semester.
  • Our Sports Illustrated story on WrestleMania week is here.
  • As far as the attendance, WrestleTix has 131,772 as the combined number for the two shows. Of that, a minimum of 11,000 are comps since the comp number for each night was 5,500 as of Thursday and there would be more comps on the final days. WWE announced it was the biggest gate in the history of Mania and if you combine the two nights it would be easily. The company did not give a figure surprisingly as they have done every year for the past decade plus, even with the record. They would almost surely announce the combined gate at the end of the month if not earlier.
  • Total Google searches for the two days was 2 million. They’ve beaten that in the past for one show, although not in the last few years. It was 1.55 million on Friday & Saturday and 450,000 on Sunday. For yesterday, Roman Reigns was No. 6 for 200,000. Of the characters on the show, Steve Austin ended up being the most searched at 500,000 with Reigns and Cody Rhodes next at 200,000.
  • We will have more complete numbers by midweek for all the shows, but Supercard of Honor based on early reports was up 177.5% from the prior Supercard of Honor PPV show based on television cable. Early reports indicate maybe 10% of an AEW number, but this is early for anything in that kind of comparison. ROH had not done much for a few years in that realm.

Other Notes 

  • Bad Bunny’s alum El Ultimo Tour del Mundo, which featured the song Booker T, won a Grammy for Best Musica Urbana (Urban music Latino category) . The Grammy took place last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas (thanks to Brian Henke)
  • El Hijo del Vikingo said that he hurt himself on a show in Chiapas. He said that Dorian Roldan told him to be careful and because of that, he is taking time off now to make sure he’s ready for 4/30 for his TripleMania main event match in Monterrey where he and Rey Fenix face the Yong Bucks. Myzteziz Jr. replaced him on weekend shows (thanks to Rene Ochoa)
  • New Japan put up the Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White match from Madison Square Garden on its YouTube page for free (thanks to Suju Abraham)
  • Combate Global will host an all-women’s show on Friday night on Paramount +. Claudia Diaz of Spain and Houston faces Maneula Marconetto of Italy in the main event. Diaz is the WBC World Muay Thai champion and will be fighting on her 27th birthday.
  • RGR Promotions in Los Angeles is advertising El Hijo del Santo and Psycho Clown on the same show this coming Sunday. This will be a political story to watch since AAA does not allow its wrestlers to work on shows with Santo, although that did happen in Dallas under the guise of two different shows by the same promoter. AAA and Crash had a falling out over this point.
  • Midwest AlL-Star Wrestling on 4/9 in Wilmar,MN at the Wilmar Auditorium.

Pat McAfee says WWE WrestleMania 38 was ‘a dream come true’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

At the start of his radio show on Monday, Pat McAfee commented on his experience at WrestleMania 38.

The SmackDown commentator made his WWE main roster in-ring debut by defeating Vince McMahon’s protege Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38 night two on Sunday. But that wasn’t McAfee’s only match of the night. After McAfee vs. Theory, McMahon stepped into the ring to face McAfee in an impromptu match.

McAfee lost to McMahon due to interference by Theory, including Theory giving McAfee a low blow. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin then appeared and dished out stunners to Theory and McMahon. Austin and McAfee shared beers together until Austin also stunned him too.

“Last night was a dream come true. Last night I had the time of my life. Last night — I should have been undefeated at WrestleMania and then I got, you know, set up. I got bamboozled. There’s no way that was a sanctioned match. So, I’m still undefeated at WrestleMania,” McAfee said on The Pat McAfee Show.

McAfee said he can’t thank everyone enough for the love they sent him after his matches.

“Absolutely thankful for everybody and everything. Austin Theory, you know, he’s a good kid. He’s on his way. I was very fortunate to be in there. And there was some cool stuff that took place at WrestleMania. And shout out to everybody on the internet that gave me a lot of love last night. I can’t thank you enough,” McAfee said.

“Last night was a f*cking dream and you all are the best.”

McAfee thanked WWE for getting “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes as his entrance music. McAfee said making his pro wrestling entrance is something he’s thought about in his mind 10 million times.

McAfee also said that he had no idea that the stunner from Austin was happening.

Prior to WrestleMania 38, McAfee had wrestled twice for WWE. Both of those matches were for NXT in 2020.

McAfee, who is a former NFL All-Pro punter, won Rookie of the Year in the 2020 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards.

McAfee has been part of the SmackDown commentary team since April 2021.

WWE touts record-breaking attendance, revenue for WrestleMania 38

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE is touting that this year’s two-night WrestleMania was the “highest-grossing and most-attended event” in company history.

WrestleMania 38 was WWE’s third consecutive two-night WrestleMania and the first without any COVID-19 restrictions. Over the two nights, WWE is claiming that 156,352 fans attended the event at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. WrestleTix reports that 65,719 tickets were distributed for night one and 65,653 were distributed for night two.

“WWE’s annual pop-culture extravaganza saw 156,352 fans from all 50 states and 53 countries converge on AT&T Stadium in over the course of two exciting nights, surpassing the previous gate and attendance records set by WrestleMania 32 in 2016,” WWE wrote in a press release on Monday.

WrestleMania 32 was the first WrestleMania to be held at AT&T Stadium. It was a one-night show.

“On behalf of our family and the entire Dallas Cowboys organization, we are ecstatic to have once again shattered records with WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium,” said Dallas Cowboys chief brand officer Charlotte Jones. “I’ve experienced first-hand WWE’s commitment to both its fans and host cities alike. We are so grateful for their partnership and desire to always overdeliver.”

“We are thrilled that WrestleMania’s return to Dallas again generated record results, proving that everything is indeed bigger in Texas,” said WWE executive vice president of special events John Saboor. “We are grateful to the Jones Family and the entire Dallas Cowboys Organization, the Dallas Sports Commission, the city of Arlington, the city of Dallas and all the public and private sector partners who were instrumental in making WrestleMania 38 the most stupendous two-night WrestleMania in history. We now turn our attention to next year, where WrestleMania will take over Hollywood.”

WrestleMania 39 will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Saturday, April 1, 2023 and Sunday, April 2, 2023.