The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the entire world into chaos, but WWE has attempted to forge ahead by holding their televised events at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with no fans in attendance. While the company previously announced WrestleMania 36 would also move from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to the Performance Center, it made two other shocking announcements on Wednesday.
WWE WrestleMania 36 will be held over two nights for the first time in history; it will also take place from multiple locations on each day — bringing to mind WrestleMania 2, which was held in three separate locations (Uniondale, New York; Rosemont, Illinois; Los Angeles).
“WrestleMania, for the first time ever, will be held as a two-night event streaming on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and available on pay-per-view,” WWE announced in a press release. “The two-night pop culture extravaganza will be hosted by three-time Super Bowl Champion Rob Gronkowski. … WrestleMania will not only take place at WWE’s training facility but will include multiple locations over two nights. All locations will be closed sets with only essential personnel.”
WWE has held Raw and SmackDown in the empty Performance Center in recent weeks, leaning on replays of matches from recent Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber pay-per-views to help fill out the running time of both shows. With WrestleMania run times in recent years pushing well past six hours, it is possible the move to two days will help prevent viewer burnout with the amount of matches already planned for the event.
Additionally, limiting the amount of action each night will allow the promotion to keep fewer people in the building as limits are put on large gatherings throughout the United States. To further address this, WrestleMania 36 will take place across multiple locations, the details of which have not yet been announced.
Gronkowski made the initial announcement of the move to two nights and his role as host.
Already announced for the event are matches including WWE champion Brock Lesnar defending the title against Drew McIntyre, universal champion Goldberg defending against Roman Reigns, AJ Styles taking on The Undertaker, Edge returning to singles action against Randy Orton and more. Check out the entire WrestleMania 36 card.
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