AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
In the most shocking moment of the week, the news was
broken on Thursday by Brandon Thurston's Wrestlenomics that
WrestleMania 42 is no longer taking place in New Orleans,
with The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation saying that
the city will host WrestleMania "another year".
“The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and New
Orleans & Company are working closely with our friends at
TKO to expand our long-standing partnership, which will
include UFC 318 on July 19, 2025, Money In The Bank in 2026,
and WrestleMania – which will move from the currently
scheduled 2026 timeframe to a future year.” the
statement sent to Wrestlenomics.com said.
Reports on NOLA.com and elsewhere suggest that Wrestlemania
2026 will return to Las Vegas, with this week's Wrestling
Observer, confirming that WWE has already reserved Allegiant
Stadium in Las Vegas for Saturday, April 18, and Sunday,
April 19, 2026, for WrestleMania 42.
While no official reason has officially been provided by WWE
as of yet, the NOLA.com article stated "After the success
of this year's event, the new leadership running WWE decided
that they would rather hold next year's event in Las Vegas
and see what response they get from fans, according to an
industry official who wasn't authorized to be quoted by
name."
Post Wrestling reports that Walt Leger, the head of New
Orleans & Company, told NOLA.com that officials in the city
were notified by WWE on Thursday that WrestleMania had been
pushed back by several years. Dave Meltzer further confirmed
in this week's Observer that the decision was made partially
because this year's Wrestlemania made so much money overall
in Las Vegas from all sources, that it would be impossible
to make that level of money in New Orleans.
I still do not understand how an agreement can be made
between New Orleans and TKO, and suddenly abandoned because
TKO "changed its mind."; then, essentially trades Mania for
a Money In The Bank, plus an agreement to host a UFC event
this summer, and a Mania to be named later.
Given Meltzer's story in this week's Observer suggesting
that Wrestlemania may regularly be featured in Las Vegas...I
wouldn't trust that commitment to a future Wrestlemania as
far as I could throw it. To be blunt, any promise for a
future Wrestlemania isn't worth shit. TKO has promised
Manias to Minneapolis, London, Saudi Arabia, and now New
Orleans...if they pay up. Otherwise, TKO will just go back
to Las Vegas.
How in hell does a city being asked to spend millions in
site fees for a PLE, a Saturday Night Main Event... and even
a RAW or Smackdown.... ever trust WWE or TKO again? What
about Wrestlecon, The Collective, and the independent
promotions that made plans for Mania week in New Orleans?
Worse, how about the people that purchased non-refundable
airline tickets or hotel reservations? WWE and TKO has have
a lot of explaining to do to many, many people.
While The Collective was reported by Sean Ross Sapp not yet
to have signed any contracts; Highspots/ Wrestlecon owner
Michael Bochicchio told POST Wrestling:"We had already
contracted space in NOLA. We hadn’t announced anything
because our next event is August (SummerSlam), and we’re 100
percent focused on that event. It will be interesting to see
how difficult/expensive it will be to get out of the NOLA
contract and the impact it may have on our process moving
forward. IF this was that easy, I’m sure everybody would be
doing it, so its just part of the experience."
For any city bidding for a PLE, Saturday Night Main Event,
or RAW, I'd put a clause in any contract with a significant
financial penalty should the show be relocated, and that TKO
would be subject to breach of contract penalty. If TKO
refused, then I'd walk away.
WWE has not, as yet, made any official announcement on the
matter, save to announce there was a change. On Friday, HHH
revealed that the "make-up" WWE Money in the Bank 2026 is
scheduled for August 29, 2026 in New Orleans. It's totally
not coincidence that this is a likely date/weekend for ALL
IN 2026 in Wembley Stadium.
In a totally opposite vein...the sweetest moment of the
wrestling week, Jason Baker, the noted designer behind Bray
Wyatt's Fiend mask and costume, tweeted that he helped
Wyatt's son Knash honor his father during his birthday
celebration:
I had the honor of doing something that is so close to my
heart that I’m still fighting back tears while writing this.
I got a call from Jojo wanting to fulfill Knash’s birthday
wish, which was to dress up like his dad for his birthday
party. Needless to say, [Mandy Baker] and I dropped
everything to make this happen for such an incredible little
man. We love you Knash and Hope you had the best birthday
ever!...now the only thing left to do is….LET HIM IN!
Fireflies do, indeed, fly forever.
Sunday's Double Or Nothing was the first PPV in several
years that wasn't available for US viewers to order (without
using a VPN).
The Wrestling Observer last Wednesday reported the likely
reason is that Triller/FITE TV "I've known this for a
long, long time, Triller is in a real bad financial state.
They didn't file their 10-Q, they're on the verge of being
delisted, their stock is under $1 per share. So they need
someone to buy them right now because they're in trouble. It
probably plays into something having to do with this. If
you're far behind, there is obviously the fear you may not
get your money and I know other people who have done
business there are fearing that right now."
With these issues, there's concern about continued
availability of the AEW+ service, which is a major way many
European fans watch AEW programming live. AEW's conventional
European TV partners typically air AEW on a several day
delay. Additionally, Triller+ serves as the broadcaster of
events for many independent promotions, including GCW,
Wrestling Revolver, House Of Glory, to name just a few.
Triller's stability is a far bigger concern for these
companies. If Triller were to go out of business, it could
badly hurt these companies.
AEW All Out is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in
Toronto on Saturday, September 20th. Presale will begin May
28th at 10am with public on sale beginning on June 2nd.
In a Toronto Sun interview last Tuesday, Tony Khan told the
Sun in a Toronto Sun. “I can’t wait for AEW to make our
return. That’s going to be so exciting. It’s the first-ever
international AEW All Out pay-per-view. It’s been one of the
biggest pay-per-views in AEW traditionally. I’m so thrilled
that we’re doing it.” Tony Khan also noted that this
will mark the first time it's All Out event will venture
outside of Chicago, where it originated, since the COVID-19
pandemic forced it south to Florida. “I think that
bringing AEW All Out into a new market, Toronto in
particular, is exciting,” Khan said. “Forbidden Door
was one of the best shows we’ve ever done,. It was a great,
great event. I really put that on my Mount Rushmore of the
best shows we’ve ever done. It’s going to be a high standard
that we’ve set for ourselves in Toronto.”
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
bobmagee1@hotmail.com account or to through Facebook
Messenger at https://www.facebook.com/bob.magee.180, direct
message me at https://twitter.com/BobMage70323520, or
contact me at BlueSky at
https://bsky.app/profile/bobmagee940.bsky.social
