This article is about the upcoming 2026 WrestleMania in Las Vegas. For the 2025 WrestleMania in Las Vegas and also promoted as "WrestleMania Vegas", see WrestleMania 41. For the 1993 WrestleMania in Las Vegas, see WrestleMania IX.
WrestleMania 42, also promoted as WrestleMania Vegas, is an upcoming 2026 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It will be the 42nd annual WrestleMania and will take place as a two-night event on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
Initially set to take place at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 11 and 12, WrestleMania 42 was relocated back to the Las Vegas Valley and pushed back a week due to the financial success of 2025's WrestleMania 41, with Las Vegas offering a higher bid to again host the event. This will be the third WrestleMania in the Las Vegas area, including WrestleMania IX in 1993, and the second consecutive held at the venue, marking only the second time WrestleMania will be held at the same venue in consecutive years. This will be the first WrestleMania to livestream on the ESPN streaming service in the United States and the first WrestleMania to air live on ESPN's linear channels, as the first hour of each night will also air on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively.
WrestleMania is WWE's flagship professional wrestling 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 event in WWE history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April, featuring wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.[1] Along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, it is one of the company's five biggest annual events, referred to as the "Big Five".[2][3][4] WrestleMania was ranked the sixth-most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes in 2019,[5] and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.[6]
In February 2025, reports emerged that WrestleMania 42 would take place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, the same venue that hosted WrestleMania XXX in 2014 and WrestleMania 34 in 2018.[7] On the February 21 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, TKO board of directors member and part-time WWE wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson announced WrestleMania 42 would emanate from the Caesars Superdome on April 11 and 12, 2026.[8] On May 22, 2025, however, WrestleMania 42 was confirmed to no longer take place in New Orleans. While the specifics of the change were not revealed, this came as part of a larger agreement, with New Orleans instead hosting a future WrestleMania, as well as the 2026 Money in the Bank.[9] Reports also emerged alleging that, with the financial success of WrestleMania 41 being held in Las Vegas, WrestleMania 42 may return to the area, while other reports suggested a possible international location.[10][11]
In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view worldwide, WrestleMania 42 will be available to livestream on the ESPN streaming service in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Abema in Japan.[18]
This marks the first WrestleMania to livestream on the ESPN streaming service, as ESPN acquired the streaming rights to WWE's main roster events in the United States beginning with Wrestlepalooza in September 2025, following the expiration of WWE's contract with Peacock. ESPN had originally been slated to begin broadcasting main roster PPV and livestreaming events in the United States with WrestleMania 42;[19] however, as Peacock's agreement with WWE referred to the airing of a specified number of events, rather than on a fixed end date, the expansion of WWE's calendar—including all WrestleManias on Peacock being two nights since 2021 and the 2025 SummerSlam expanding to two nights, as well as the all-women's event Evolution in 2025—caused Peacock to reach the number of WWE events allotted in their agreement ahead of schedule.[20][21] This will also notably be the first WrestleMania to not air on the WWE Network since it launched in 2014 as the service will be permanently shutdown on April 1 in the last four remaining countries that are still on the platform.[22]
During the February 27, 2026, episode of Friday Night SmackDown, WWE announced that the first hour of each night would air live on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively, marking the first WWE PPV and livestreaming event to air live on ESPN's linear channels.[23]
Other WrestleMania weekend events
As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE will hold a number of events throughout the week. On April 17, WWE will kick off WrestleMania Weekend with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Friday Night SmackDown. Subsequently following SmackDown's broadcast, the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony will commence. WrestleMania Weekend will conclude with the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania on April 20. SmackDown and Raw will be held live at the nearby T-Mobile Arena, while the Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at Dolby Live at Park MGM.[24][25]
Storylines
The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[26][27] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[28]
At the Royal Rumble on January 31, SmackDown's Roman Reigns won the men's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 42.[29] Reigns appeared on the following episode of Raw where he was interrupted by Raw's World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk, who claimed that Reigns could choose the easy path and face SmackDown's world champion or choose the hard path and face him. Punk reminded Reigns that he was ultimately responsible for Reigns's overall success in WWE as he was the one who brought him onto the main roster as part of The Shield in 2012. Punk also outlined how he was a fighting champion, in comparison to Reigns, who barely showed up to defend his title during his previous title reign. Reigns recounted his dislike of Punk, stemming from comments that Punk had made about Reigns on a podcast after Punk left WWE in early 2014, which caused fans to turn on him and made his job harder. He also brought up that Punk caused Paul Heyman to turn on him at WrestleMania 41 and informed Punk that he was ultimately the one responsible for Punk's return to WWE at the 2023 Survivor Series: WarGames, as management consulted his approval. Although Reigns had showed respect to Punk after they teamed up in the WarGames match at the 2025 Survivor Series: WarGames on November 29, Reigns decided that out of his overall hatred for Punk, he would challenge him at WrestleMania 42 for the World Heavyweight Championship.[30] After Punk successfully defended the title at Elimination Chamber on February 28, he confirmed his status as the defending champion.[31]
Also at the Royal Rumble, Raw's Liv Morgan won the women's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of her choice at WrestleMania 42.[29] Over the next few weeks, she appeared on Raw and SmackDown to confront the champions of each brand, leading to numerous altercations. On Raw on February 16, Raw's Women's World Champion, Stephanie Vaquer, interrupted Morgan's interview and chastised Morgan, claiming that Morgan had been handed everything throughout her career and that if she chose her, Morgan would not win, which left Morgan in tears.[32] The following week, Morgan, along with both champions, appeared where Morgan attacked Vaquer and posed with the title, officially declaring that she would challenge Vaquer for the Women's World Championship at WrestleMania 42.[33]
In speaking with ESPN on January 28, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque confirmed that the winners of the men's and women's Elimination Chamber matches at the eponymous event would earn a world title match at WrestleMania 42 for the respective championships that the winners of the 2026 Royal Rumble matches did not choose.[34] As a result of both the men's and women's Royal Rumble winners choosing Raw's respective world championships, this confirmed that the winners of the men's and women's Elimination Chamber matches would challenge for SmackDown's respective world championships: the Undisputed WWE Championship and the WWE Women's Championship.[30][33] Raw's Rhea Ripley won the women's match to face Jade Cargill, while SmackDown's Randy Orton won the men's match to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship.[31] On that week's SmackDown, Cody Rhodes won the championship, confirming his status as the defending champion.[35]
On the February 23 episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar made his first appearance since the Royal Rumble. He was accompanied by Paul Heyman, who questioned who should face Lesnar at WrestleMania. Heyman claimed that no one had the courage to do so, and after revealing Lesnar's upcoming appearances, Heyman stated that anyone who wanted to face Lesnar in an open challenge at the event would just need to appear.[33]
↑Due to sponsorship reasons, The Atlantic City Convention Hall was referred to as the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino during the broadcasts for WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V.[13]
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