INGLEWOOD — The WWE flexed its muscle at SoFi Stadium recently, providing a glimpse at what it will offer the local area with WrestleMania 39, the biggest pro wrestling event performed annually, next April.
The company’s Aug. 11 launch party featured celebrity guests and in-ring action to entertain the thousands that were in attendance.
Rapper Snoop Dogg, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, and YouTube personality Jojo Siwa all participated in some capacity with the WWE Superstars throughout the show.
Snoop Dogg exchanged gifts with Bianca Belair, the current RAW Women’s Champion, and Becky Lynch, a former champion. Snoop Dogg presented the duo with “Death Row” chains while the duo presented a custom-themed WWE championship to the rapper.
Iglesias served as a co-host for the event alongside Kayla Braxton and Corey Graves. Siwa entered the ring for a sit-down interview segment with The Miz, Maryse and WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan.
Siwa and the Miz recently participated in the MLB’s All-Star Celebrity Softball Game together at Dodger Stadium.
The WrestleMania Launch Party provided fans in attendance with the opportunity to have early access to purchase WrestleMania 39 tickets before they went on sale ($350 and up) worldwide the following morning.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins won the main event tag team match by pinfall over Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo. After the match, Ford and Dawkins were joined by the Laker Girls and the Rams mascot, Rampage, among others in the ring located on the field at SoFi Stadium.
🐏🏡💪 #RamsHouse x @WWE pic.twitter.com/w7dQwz9MEi
— Rampage (@RampageNFL) August 12, 2022
Titus O’Neil, a WWE wrestler and ambassador, was in attendance at SoFi Stadium at Super Bowl LVI in February and believes the wrestling event has the potential to be a much bigger spectacle in the same venue.
“We will be sold out,” O’Neil told the Southern California News Group in July. “We have something on the card for folks that are young and old.”
O’Neil mentioned that the event may also feature a few surprises.
“There’s no secret that one of the biggest superstars in WWE history just so happens to be out here a lot in Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson,” O’Neil said. “There’s always that curiosity and wonder if he will come back to battle with Roman Reigns.”
Both Johnson and Reigns, the current undisputed universal champion, are members of the Anoa’i family and former NCAA Division I college football players.
WWE will not only take over SoFi Stadium with the two-day WrestleMania event on April 1-2, but will broadcast both of its weekly television shows at Crypto.com arena to bookend the weekend. Smackdown will be held on March 31 and RAW take place on April 3.
There will also be a WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, WrestleMania Axxess (meet and greet), and various community-based events.
The event is expected to have a significant economic impact on the local community, similar to this year’s show.
WrestleMania 38 attracted 156,352 people to AT&T Stadium this past April and generated $206.5 million for the Dallas/Arlington region, according to a WWE press release. This year’s card featured “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Pat McAfee, Logan Paul and Brock Lesnar.
It will be the first time WrestleMania has returned to Southern California since 2005 when Dave Bautista and Triple H competed in the main event for WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles.
Triple H was named WWE’s Head of Creative following the retirement of Vince McMahon in late July. McMahon’s retirement followed an internal investigation by the WWE’s board of directors and allegations of sexual misconduct made by previous employees.
“It’s exciting,” Seth Rollins, a former WWE champion, said about the recent changes. “It’s a brand new world. It’s a lot of the same but a little bit different like stepping into a wormhole of some parallel universe where it’s all WWE with the same people you knew, love, and worked with before but now it’s just going in a different direction.”
WWE’s Seth Rollins on his dream #WrestleMania match (with HBK), working with HHH in charge and his thoughts on SoFi Stadium. pic.twitter.com/WvsflxSvM5
— James H. Williams covers UCLA football (@JHWreporter) August 12, 2022
