INGLEWOOD — While a multi-billion-dollar deal for the future of the company was being quietly brokered backstage, the WWE provided waves of over-the-top action that spurred eight hours of boisterous emotions for the 161,892 fans throughout the two-night WrestleMania 39 event over the weekend at SoFi Stadium.
WrestleMania is the company’s biggest event of the year — essentially the Super Bowl for this brand og sports entertainment — and results in the conclusion of several of its top scripted storylines.
But this year’s event — which WWE officials on Monday said shattered company records for attendance, revenue, sponsorships, charitable contributions and social-media activity — marked the start of a new chapter in the company’s history, not in the arena but in the boardroom.
The company made headlines for months on the business pages, with news of then-embattled WWE founder Vince McMahon’s abrupt but short-lived retirement — spurred by reports that he paid more than $12 million in hush money to women in hopes of keeping them quiet about alleged sexual misconduct — and eventual return as executive chairman in January.
McMahon returned, he said, to orchestrate discussions of the WWE being available for purchase. His asking price: $9 billion.
A deal appeared to emerge over Wrestlemania weekend, Endeavor, parent company of the UFC cage-fighting dynasty, reportedly signed an agreement to merge with the WWE.
“Together, we will be a $21+ billion live sports and entertainment powerhouse with a collective fanbase of more than a billion people and an exciting growth opportunity,” McMahon said in a statement Monday.
McMahon and Ari Emanuel, CEO of the American mixed martial arts promotion, sat down for an interview with CNBC on Monday morning to confirm the pact.
“We’ve known each other for 23 years,” Emanuel said of his relationship with McMahon during the interview. “There’s a lot of trust here.”
WWE’s chief content officer Paul Levesque — a popular retired grappler better known to fans as “Triple H,” who is married to McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie — said during the WrestleMania press conference on Sunday that he was unable to confirm the reports of the sale but finished the conference saying “No matter what happens, WWE is going nowhere.” More details on the merger spread out into media reports Sunday and on into Monday, streaming into the eventual conformation of the deal.
McMahon, who built his father’s regional wrestling promotion into an international juggernaut, and Levesque, who is in charge of mapping out the actual story lines and matches, are expected to retain their leadership roles with WWE. Nick Khan will become WWE’s president while longtime combat-sports baron Dana White will remain his role as UFC president.
Though one business is tightly scripted and the other brutally spontaneous, there is consistent crossover between the worlds of WW and UFC. For example, former UFC competitors Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar recorded victories in their respective matches on Sunday.
Meanwhile, on the spectacularly decked out floor of SoFi, the two-day show delighted its fan base.
WWE saw four of its six champions successfully defend their titles over the weekend, including top-billed villain Roman Reigns, who earned a pinfall victory over Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event. Reigns has held the titles for 945 consecutive days, a record for the current WWE era.
Reigns has worked together with members of his family — all wrestlers of Samoan descent with ties to the sport’s fabled Anoa’i dynasty — to create one of the strongest-ever storyline factions, known as “The Bloodline,” in the company.
The main event drew a split reaction of cheers and jeers throughout the match until its jaw-dropping conclusion. Some fans were jumping around, including one who was seen jumping on the chairs in excitement holding his replica championship belts in the air to celebrate, while others were in complete shock.
“This portion of my career has been the most fulfilling,” Reigns said during the WrestleMania press conference. “By being able to dive deep into this with Paul (Heyman), to bring my family along and lift them up and put them in a position to showcase their talent and potential to the point that we are the main event both nights of WrestleMania.”
Solo Sikoa and twins Jimmy and Jey Uso — all second-generation pro-wrestling brothers, sons of Hall of Fame star Rikishi — interfered in various points in the match to help give Reigns the advantage he needed to fend off Rhodes. Longtime Canadian cohorts Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn also made an appearance to defend Rhodes and remove the Usos from the match.
Zayn and Owens had stood tall as the new undisputed tag team champions on Night 1 of WrestleMania, after successfully defending the Usos.
Snarling, black-clad “heel” Rhea Ripley’s victory over Charlotte Flair — a multiple-time champ and daughter of wrestling legend “Nature Boy” Ric Flair who recently wrestled his final match — for the Smackdown Women’s Championship was the second of two title changes on Saturday.
Ripley was the only member of her sinister “Judgment Day” faction to have a successful outing with Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio losing their respective matches.
Balor was unable to defeat Hall of Fame star Edge in a “Hell in a Cell” match contested in a towering black cage. Balor did suffer a wound to his head — medics sealed with wound with staples right there in the ring — required staples but Levesque stated that he was going to be OK.
Second-generation teen star gone wrong Dominik Mysterio challenged his father, San Diego-based Rey Mysterio Jr.
It was a big weekend for the Mysterio family, with Rey being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday at Crypto.com Arena. The elder Mysterio, known for his high-flying stunts and colorful array of masks, is widely considered one of the greatest-ever Latino luchadores, after launching his career in Mexico at the age of 14 in 1989.
The local area was well represented with legendary Long Beach-born rapper Snoop Dogg cohosting the show.
Snoop also got to engage in a little impromptu ring action, staging an improvised knockout of co-host The Miz after his competitor — Shane McMahon, the son of WWE boss Vince McMahon, who hadn’t seen in-ring action in many months — was felled by a injury mere moments into his match. Levesque confirmed Shane McMahon had suffered a torn quadricep.
The Divas of Compton, a local youth dance troupe, also made an high-stepping appearance performing before Bianca Belair’s successful defense of her RAW Women’s Championship against Asuka and improving to 3-0 at WrestleMania. The local dancers were decked out in flashy Bianca-inspired garb, including her trademark braid.
“They were amazing,” said Belair about the dance team. “Just being able to meet them and during rehearsals when I first got to meet them I was tearing up. … they are going to do amazing things and I just wanted to bring them out.”
Belair was impressed with the way the team handled themselves on a big stage and in front of so many people.
“They are 7 to 12 years old on this stage and not intimidated by being in front of 80,000 people and thousands of people watching on Peacock. They were amazing and I wanted to give them the stage and let them shine bright. … Representation is so important. They are my ‘why.’”
WrestleMania 39 results:
Night One
- WWE United States Championship: Austin Theory def. John Cena
- Fatal Four-Way Showcase: The Street Profits def. Alpha Academy,. Viking Raiders and Ricochet & Braun Strowman
- Seth Rollins def. Logan Paul
- Rey Mysterio def. Dominik Mysterio
- Becky Lynch & Lita & Trish Stratus def. Damage CNTRL
- Smackdown Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Charlotte Flair
- Pat McAfee def. The Miz
- Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship: Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens def. The Usos
Night Two
- Brock Lesnar def. Omos
- WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther def. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus
- Fatal Four-Way Showcase: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Bazler def. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya & Shotzi, and Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green
- Snoop Dogg def. the Miz
- Raw Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair def. Asuka
- Hell in a Cell: Edge def. Finn Balor
- WWE Undisputed Universal Championship: Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes
Source: Orange County Register
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