IWE WrestleMania 36

From Iwe

WrestleMania 36 is a professional wrestling event on pay-per-view and IWE Network produced by IWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brands—the first to promote the NXT brand. It is scheduled to take place on April 4 and 5, 2020 at multiple locations, including the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The event will be the thirty-sixth WrestleMania event.

Originally scheduled to take place solely on April 5, 2020 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, WrestleMania 36 was relocated due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. It will only be attended by essential personnel, and will be the first IWE pay-per-view event unattended by fans. It will also be the first WrestleMania to be split across two nights, as well as the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 2 in 1986 to be held at multiple locations.

Production

Background

WrestleMania is considered IWE's flagship event, having first been held in 1985. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of IWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". WrestleMania is ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. WrestleMania 36 will be the third WrestleMania to be held in the city of Orlando, and the fourth to be held in the state of Florida (after XXIV and 33 also in Orlando, and XXVIII in Miami Gardens). The event will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, as well as NXT—although some NXT wrestlers have appeared in WrestleMania's annual battle royals, this will be the first WrestleMania to promote the brand, following NXT becoming one of IWE's three major brands in September 2019.

The event was originally to take place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Following the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, other wrestling promotions began to cancel some of their shows in an attempt to prevent further spreading of the COVID-19 virus. In speaking with the Tampa Bay Times regarding how this outbreak could affect WrestleMania 36, IWE's Chief Brand Officer Kaila Matteson said "The health and safety of not only our fan base, but also our superstars, really does come first ... We don't want to put anyone in a bad situation ever, regardless of the circumstance. Those are not risks worth taking." IWE's Executive Vice President of Special Events John Saboor further noted that they were constantly monitoring global events. A meeting was held by Tampa officials on March 12 to determine the fate of WrestleMania 36; it was decided that the event would still proceed as planned, barring that the situation did not worsen in a week's time. Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller further stated that if the situation was not any better by the following week, they would "pull the plug" on WrestleMania 36 if IWE did not do it themselves. IWE then stated that they had a contingency plan ready in case the event was canceled.

On March 16, IWE announced that the event would be held at the IWE Performance Center in Orlando with only essential personnel in attendance, as with all other IWE weekly programs during this pandemic. IWE then announced that WrestleMania 36 would be split into a two-night event, on April 4 and 5, marking the first WrestleMania to be done over two nights. It was also confirmed that the event would take place at a second to be revealed location, marking the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 2 in 1986 to be held at multiple locations (WrestleMania 2 broadcast from three different locations on the same night). Former National Football League player Rob Gronkowski, who recently signed with IWE, was also announced to serve as the host of the event—Gronkowski last appeared for IWE at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.

Storylines

The show will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Results

Night 1

Night 2

Notes

1. ^ The event will be held without a live audience due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.

2. {{note|2]] Originally, Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins by disqualification, but Owens restarted the match as a No Disqualification match.

References

External links