WrestleMania 38 Is Officially Back on WWE

WrestleMania returns for its 38th installment in all its maximum-impact, high-volume, melodramatic, sweat-drenched, spandex-clad glory. For fans, advertisers and performers, pro wrestling’s largest annual spectacle is akin to the Super Bowl, Coachella and TV upfronts all wrapped into one giant showcase. For World Wrestling Entertainment, the business entity behind it all, WrestleMania doesn’t just set the table for the next year: It is the table, ladders, chairs, ring and arena. It makes the whole show possible—and entices partners to buy a seat close to the action. WWE revenue continued growing throughout the pandemic, but this WrestleMania is the first full-strength installment in front of a packed house in three years. It’ll also be the first two-day WrestleMania unhampered by mandatory social distancing measures. For WWE, WrestleMania and its sponsors, that comeback is as big as any of the show’s storylines. “It is our opportunity to showcase to the world what we do best on the grandest stage of them all,” said Stephanie McMahon, WWE’s chief brand officer. “It offers opportunities to deeply engage with partners and brands across multiple lines of business and really help amplify their messaging—whatever it is that they're promoting—as well as incorporate them into our storylines and elevate our relevancy as well.” WWE Kicks Off TikTok Contest to Find Digital Correspondent for WrestleMania 38 WWE produced $1.1 billion in revenue in 2021, up from $960 million in pre-pandemic 2019. Roughly $936 million of last year’s revenue was generated by media and sponsorship fees paid before a single fan bought a ticket to a live show, up from $743 million just two years earlier. During that span, WrestleMania expanded from a one-night broadcast to a two-night event that created space for more content and more sponsors. Last year’s limited-attendance WrestleMania in Tampa was WWE’s first live event since Covid-19 appeared in the U.S. Two-day WrestleMania, five-day event You're not tripping on somebody else's brand or a similar category: We can make everyone feel special, because we're doing something special.—Claudine Lilien, head of global sales and partnerships, WWE To mark its return to full capacity, WrestleMania 38 is being held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The five-day slate includes WWE’s Axxess Superstore brand showcase, which allows sponsors including C4 Energy, Mattel and Fiterman Sports to fill Dallas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center with their wares and WWE Superstar salespeople. The action kicked off with Friday Night Smackdown and is rounded out by the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a Business Partner Summit, two nights of WrestleMania matches and Monday Night Raw. “We always say that to understand our property, you need to see it live,” said Claudine Lilien, head of global sales and partnerships for WWE. “The fact that WrestleMania is two nights doubles the opportunity in terms of what we can do. You're not tripping on somebody else's brand or a similar category: We can make everyone feel special, because we're doing something special.” Snickers’ and 2K’s tag team Right after the pandemic first hit in 2020, WrestleMania was held without a live audience at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando. For the remainder of that year, WWE’s sponsorship revenue dipped to $65.3 million after hitting $72.4 million in 2019. Last year’s WrestleMania only allowed 25,000 attendees—roughly a third of Raymond James Stadium’s total capacity—to meet social distancing requirements. With WrestleMania back to full capacity, WWE saw an opportunity to get more brands in front of its fans. After serving as WrestleMania’s presenting sponsor for six years, Mars Wrigley’s Snickers brand is splitting duties with the Take-Two Interactive 2K division’s WWE 2K22 video game, following a kayfabe online brawl over the title. https://twitter.com/SNICKERS/status/1507417159990796289 However, Snickers still gets one night of WrestleMania all to itself and gets access to WWE Superstars including Otis and Chad Gable, Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss and Sheamus for its ads. According to Michelle Deignan, senior director for Mars Wrigley, Snickers is satisfied with the result. “We love how the WWE and WWE superstars are always willing to have fun when partnering with us and creating content alongside us,” Deignan said. “The WWE understands that bringing fun and smiles to fans is a huge priority for Mars. And they’re fantastic partners when it comes to bringing that to life.” The feud’s 1.6 million social media impressions and more than 236,000 engagements—including commentary from Wendy’s, Slim Jim and Mr. Peanut—also worked out pretty well for Take-Two. During the Road to WrestleMania, 2K teamed with YouTuber TimTheTatman, YouTube-star-turned-boxer Logan Paul, streaming stunt squad Dude Perfect and WWE champ-turned-actor John Cena’s HBO Max series Peacemaker. With WWE 2K22 launching in March just prior to WrestleMania, gamers have played more than 82 million matches, with an estimated 42% of players new to the WWE 2K series. Videos related to the game have been viewed more than 98 million times on YouTube, while upwards of 5 million hours of game-related content has been viewed on Twitch. “Piggybacking the biggest WWE video game launch on top of the most stupendous WrestleMania to date makes for the perfect tag team,” said Melissa Bell, 2K’s chief marketing officer. Proud Peacock There are even more brands under WrestleMania’s big tent. Cricket Wireless presents the WrestleMania Kickoff Show, Mike’s Hard Lemonade gets its own ring-entrance promo, DoorDash gets a Superstar-studded commercial and stadium billboards and DraftKings gets some billboard screen time of its own. Screens at Dave and Busters and Fathom Events-hosting movie theaters will help spread WrestleMania and its brand partners’ reach, but perhaps no WWE partner amplifies the event quite like NBCUniversal’s Peacock. In early 2021, the streaming platform struck a deal with WWE for rights to premium events including WrestleMania and 17,000 hours of archived programming. The agreement reportedly spans five years and is worth roughly $1 billion. https://twitter.com/peacockTV/status/1509938866865598468 The Peacock deal brought over nearly 1.2 million existing WWE Network subscribers and offered them the same $9.99 monthly price for ad-free viewing, as well as a $4.99 monthly tier to viewers who’d put up with ads. WWE’s revenue from streaming climbed from $184.6 million in 2019 to $215.4 million last year. Since 1985, WrestleMania’s been a direct-to-consumer product through pay-per-view and WWE’s own streaming service. While Peacock doesn’t disclose specific viewership data, WWE notes that WrestleMania and archive exclusivity were key to the deal. Specifically, 2014’s WrestleMania 30 (the end of the Undertaker’s undefeated streak) and 2001’s WrestleMania X-Seven (The Rock versus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin) rank among WWE’s most rewatched content. “It is the key driver for our streaming partners, and that's why we launched last year just in time for WrestleMania,” McMahon said. “Not only do you get the WWE library and WrestleMania, but you get all of this other incredible content—The Office, Super Bowl, the Olympics—at the same price point.” In the big leagues Prior to the pandemic, Forbes ranked WrestleMania sixth among global sporting event brands. At the time, its $245 million in estimated value ranked behind only the college football playoffs ($255 million), the World Cup ($282 million), college basketball’s men’s Final Four ($300 million), the Summer Olympics ($375 million) and the Super Bowl ($780 million). It put WrestleMania ahead of the Winter Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the World Series. Since 2009, with the exception of two stops in Orlando, WrestleMania has been held at Super Bowl-caliber National Football League facilities. As a result, the WWE has begun playing with big league partners. https://twitter.com/dallascowboys/status/1509621840934805506 WrestleMania 38 is WWE’s second WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium since 2016. It features the Dallas Cowboys organization prominently in events throughout the nearby Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Cowboys will join WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers during the WWE’s Community Champions Showcase, rewarding organizations including South Dallas’ Oak Cliff community center, the Family Place domestic violence shelter and the North Texas Food Bank. The WWE will host tryouts for college athletes at The Star—the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility and administrative campus in Frisco, Texas—as part of the name, image and likeness (NIL) program it launched in December. McMahon, meanwhile, joined Cowboys executive vice president and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones—who is also the daughter of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—in breaking ground on the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington back in March. “As you might imagine, Charlotte Jones and I have quite a few things in common,” said McMahon, who’s also the daughter of WWE CEO and WrestleMania creator Vince McMahon. “The Joneses and the Cowboys team in general are incredible: They bring a partnership to life in more ways than just hosting an event at their stadium.” The Dallas Cowboys Brand Has Outgrown Football Laying the smack down This year’s Super Bowl host site, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, will welcome WrestleMania 39 in 2023. Before the WWE even arrives in Hollywood Park, however, it’s already muscling in on other sports’ camera time. Sasha Banks—who also appears in The Mandalorian on Disney+—was featured in an ESPN college football national championship pregame promotion. Big E handled the voiceover the introductions for the third fight between boxing heavyweights Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder—Banks and Bianca Belair were among Twitter’s top 5 most tweeted about women in sports. https://twitter.com/NFLUK/status/1494336837862797312 Dwayne Johnson opened Super Bowl 56 in Los Angeles, not as an action movie star but as his WWE alter ego The Rock. While WWE executives regularly view the company’s biggest event as “our Super Bowl,” big sports and brands alike have embraced “our WrestleMania.” “The fact that all of these other sporting properties are using our athletes to promote their biggest events shows we’re competitive,” Lilien said. "That is key because we are aggressively trying to show brands that when you see a Subway commercial with Tom Brady … why can't that be Roman Reigns?” WWE, Snap Become Tag Team Partners for WrestleMania 38

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