“TKO Has Killed WWE”- Wrestling Fans Outraged with WrestleMania 42 Venue Change After New Orleans Snub

In a change of plans, New Orleans is snubbed out of its WrestleMania hosting rights in 2026 for unspecified reasons.

“TKO Has Killed WWE”- Wrestling Fans Outraged with WrestleMania 42 Venue Change After New Orleans Snub

Triple H at WrestleMania 41 [via- WWE]

On Thursday, a report from WrestleNomics claimed that WrestleMania 42 will no longer take place in New Orleans. It was announced back in February by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that WWE’s biggest spectacle of the year is headed to NOLA in 2026. However, that’s not the case anymore. The Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation is hopeful of the event reschedule, however.

While The Big Easy has been stripped of a guaranteed two-night WrestleMania in 2026, the city is getting to host WWE’s Money in the Bank PLE in what could be considered a consolation. A reason has yet to be disclosed as to why the pro wrestling juggernaut pulled back on its WrestleMania plans. As per NOLA.com, WWE has decided to retain Las Vegas as the host of WrestleMania 42.

Last month, The Show of Shows, held in Sin City, shattered all previously-set live gate records in the company’s history. WrestleMania 41 in Vegas was attended by a cumulative 124,693 fans on April 19 and 20. The show had its fair share of controversy for a number of reasons. Out of everything, the price gouging miffed the majority of wrestling fans who were hopeful of an affordable ticketing experience.

Consequently, neither of the WrestleMania nights ended up being complete sellouts. Moreover, the event will be infamously remembered for the no-show of The Rock, who was expected to make an appearance during the Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena match on Sunday. However, The Final Boss decided to sit on the sidelines and instead let Travis Scott do the dirty work for the man who sold out at the behest of The Great One—Cena.

Wrestling fans reject Las Vegas as WrestleMania host in 2026

As heavily expected, the wrestling fans online are prohibitively against the idea of WrestleMania reverting back to Las Vegas for the second straight year. The majority of the blame is pinned on the parent company of WWE—TKO Group Holdings. A fan noted that the conglomerate is all about money, and since Vegas broke the all-time WrestleMania gate record in 2025, it’d only suffice to revisit the city.

Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania
WrestleMania 41 was held in Las Vegas [via- WWE]

One fan joked that WWE/TKO is delivering on John Cena‘s promise of ruining wrestling for the fans. It seems as if a number of people were convinced that WWE would finally consider taking WrestleMania international, with London being the frontrunner host. However, that is supposedly going to take a few more years to materialize.

Not everyone in the comments is dumping on Vegas getting WrestleMania again. However, they’re screaming for reasonable prices, unlike the case it was last month. WWE’s sister company, UFC, always put their biggest fight cards in Las Vegas. As such, TKO would like to visit it to repeat the success formula.

Someone also noted that WWE might finally book chapter 3 of the Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes saga, which is currently a win apiece between the two stars. The same fan, however, asked his fellow wrestling fanatics to brace themselves for at least $1000 per ticket.

What is TKO’s stance on securing big events like WrestleMania in the future?

Despite a number of discussions with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, WWE officials have yet to find common ground to take WrestleMania to the UK. Back in July 2024, Khan met WWE President Nick Khan and CCO Triple H to further the talks. The mayor is hellbent on establishing London as the undisputed sports capital of the world.

WrestleMania
Pyro going off at WrestleMania 35 [via- WWE]

There are a number of variables in play at the moment, one of which potentially includes the site fees that’d be needed for the new ownership at WWE to ratify an overseas WrestleMania. TKO, the conglomerate holding together WWE and the UFC, has a modus operandi of extracting the maximum site fee from any of their potential hosts.

Take for instance, WWE obtained a $5 million site fee from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to stage WrestleMania 41 in Sin City. Moreover, later this year, WWE will present its first-ever two-night SummerSlam from the MetLife Stadium. As per the WrestleNomics data, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority is endowing WWE with $7.1 million.

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