This afternoon, a statement from the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation revealed a surprise turn of events regarding the host city for WWE WrestleMania 42. Namely, New Orleans, Louisiana no longer has the distinction of holding the grand event in 2026. Instead, that honor will now belong to another city, with New Orleans slated to host the 2026 Money in the Bank event and another future WrestleMania.
According to NOLA, the replacement destination for WrestleMania 42 will be none other than Las Vegas, which wrapped up the festivities for WrestleMania 41 just one month ago. This update reportedly came from an industry official, who indicated WWE’s eagerness to follow up in the city after it produced record-breaking numbers for the two-night WrestleMania 41 premium live event on April 19 and 20. Journalist Andrew Baydala previously noted that WWE was considering bringing “The Show of Shows” back to Las Vegas in the next three to five years. That timeline now appears to have been bumped up much earlier.
A triple threat match involving Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk headlined night one of WrestleMania 41. The following night, John Cena claimed his record-breaking 17th world title by defeating “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes in the main event. Financially, WWE shattered several records of their own in areas such as viewership, merchandise, sponsorship, and social media. Additionally, WrestleMania 41 resulted in the largest gate in WWE history, with 124,693 fans in attendance.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson initially announced New Orleans, specifically the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, as the host for WrestleMania 42 back in February. This would have marked the third time in just 12 years that “The Big Easy” claimed this distinction.
Internal Reactions
Following NOLA’s report, Fightful Select noted that someone formerly connected to WWE had also implied Las Vegas as the new destination for WrestleMania 42. In addition, the outlet shared some of the internal reactions they gathered in the aftermath of this news.
Within WWE, a number of staff and talent were reportedly shocked by this development. At the same time, talents are said to be unfazed by it, especially considering WWE typically handles their travel arrangements for the days surrounding WrestleMania events. The outlet added that for several talents, WrestleMania wasn’t even on their personal radar yet as it is still so far out.
Originally, WWE penciled in Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12, 2026 for the WrestleMania 42 in New Orleans. With WWE reportedly circling Las Vegas now, it is unknown if the dates for the two-day premium live event will change as well. Fightful claims that the current WWE regime has generally been open to changes in relation to shows if the revenue produced comes with a “significant” boost.
Outside of WWE, a number of independent and other major wrestling promotions typically hold their own events in and around the respective host city of WrestleMania. With next year’s location moving, frustration has already reportedly mounted, as planned events may now have to move as well. WrestleCon, an industry tradition of WrestleMania week, is said to have already signed a contract with a New Orleans venue for their scheduled April 2026 showing. Their possible direction following WrestleMania’s shift in course was not mentioned.