WWE officially announces that WrestleMania XXXVI will be held in Tampa, Florida in 2020. Invented in 1985, WrestleMania is the biggest event of the year for the wrestling promotion and is regarded as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. Each year, audiences gather to see their favorite superstars in action as they put their bodies on the line in the squared circle. With reports suggesting that WWE wants to add a second annual WrestleMania to its schedule by 2020, fans in the Tampa Bay area may be in for a historic weekend when WrestleMania heads to the city next year.
In the last couple of years, Florida has hosted three WrestleMania's, but none took place in Tampa, so this will be a first for the city. And, with the main roster talent's biggest event of the year coming to Tampa, fans of the developmental league should expect NXT Takeover to be held in the area as well. This year, WrestleMania will take place in New Jersey, and will feature the in-ring return of Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista, who returned to WWE on a recent episode of Monday Night Raw. Speculation regarding WrestleMania XXXVI taking place in Tampa began last year, but earlier today WWE made the official announcement.
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During a press conference, WWE officially announced that WrestleMania XXXVI would be headed to Tampa Bay on April 5, 2020. Over the years, several major events have been held in the city, but not a single WrestleMania event until now. Next year, WrestleMania XXXVI will be held in the Raymond James Stadium, which is the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. WWE COO Paul "Triple H" Levesque stated the following in regards to how Tampa has played a major role in the promotion:
“Tampa is engrained in the fabric of who we are, expounding on both the past WWE Superstars who have begun to follow their passion for the squared circle and how the genesis for the WWE Performance Center began right in Tampa Bay. To bring WrestleMania to Tampa, we couldn’t be more excited.”
WrestleMania coming to Tampa is big for a number of reasons, and aside from it being home to past developmental promotions, another is that a lot of the WWE talent live in the city. Some of the company's biggest stars such as John Cena, Sheamus, and Titus O'Neil all reside in the area. Tampa has been featured numerous times on WWE's reality series like Total Divas and Total Bellas. It was only a matter of time before the biggest event of the year made its way to the Tampa Bay area. Adding to that, if WWE adds a second WrestleMania event to its schedule, there is a chance for both to take place in Tampa. Past events have gone on for over eight hours, so maybe next year the first half of the card takes place on Saturday evening and the remainder will conclude the Sunday night after.
Next April is going to be an exciting time for not only WWE, but for fans in the area who have waited years for WrestleMania to come to their hometown. With over a year to go before the event, tickets should go on sale as soon as this year's event wraps. And, while the past few WrestleMania cards have been considered lackluster, WWE has enough time to craft an event worth remembering when WrestleMania XXXVI comes to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay.
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Source: WWE