Las Vegas Poised to Become Regular WrestleMania Venue – As noted, WWE has pulled WrestleMania 42 from New Orleans and shifted its 2026 flagship event to Las Vegas, signaling a larger strategic move to position Las Vegas as a frequent host city for WrestleMania in the years ahead. The news was first reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter by Dave Meltzer.
Originally awarded to New Orleans, WrestleMania 42 will now be held in Las Vegas, a decision driven by both financial results and logistical convenience for WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings. According to Meltzer, “The decision was made partially because this year’s WrestleMania made so much money overall in Las Vegas from all sources that they could not make that level of money in New Orleans. The other is that the company loved having it in Las Vegas, because key TKO executives live there and are there and Nick Khan grew up there.”
The new strategy doesn’t lock WrestleMania into Las Vegas annually, but the plan is for the city to host the event “frequently.” The Observer elaborates, “The idea is that the city wants to have a major destination sports event every year, and by definition they are looking at the Super Bowl, The Final Four, the College Football national championship final and WrestleMania so would be looking for Mania any year that they don’t have one of the other three events.”
Discussions between WWE and New Orleans officials reportedly took place over several days leading up to the decision. While WrestleMania will no longer be held in New Orleans in 2026, the city has secured other major WWE and TKO events. Walt Leger, CEO of New Orleans & Company, told NOLA.com that WWE has committed to returning for future shows, including the 2026 Money in the Bank premium live event.
“We’ve worked with them for the last several days to try and identify some future dates and future events to bring to the city,” Leger stated.
Although WWE did not formally announce why it moved WrestleMania from New Orleans, Leger referenced internal changes at TKO following the merger of WWE and UFC. “There had been a lot of corporate shakeups since the deal was originally put together and the people formerly in charge of making WrestleMania decisions were replaced by a newly-created TKO Live Event Strategy team headed by Peter Dropick, a longtime UFC executive who is based in Las Vegas,” he explained.
The Observer further confirmed that New Orleans is expanding its partnership with TKO through a multi-event, multi-year deal. In addition to Money in the Bank, the city will also host UFC 318 at the Smoothie King Center on July 19, 2025, and is expected to host a future WrestleMania at a later, yet-to-be-determined date.
Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude, WA.Com On Facebook, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Google News for more.
Las Vegas Poised to Become Regular WrestleMania Venue
