WrestleMania 42, also promoted as WrestleMania Vegas, was a 2026 two-part professional wrestling premium live event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 42nd annual WrestleMania and took place as a two-night event on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. Retired WWE wrestler and brand ambassador John Cena was the host for the event.
WrestleMania 42 was originally scheduled for April 11 and 12 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, but was moved to the Las Vegas Valley and delayed by a week due to the financial success of 2025's WrestleMania 41, with Las Vegas paying a higher fee to host the event again; Vegas also used the event as an incentive to boost tourism following a downward trend in 2025. In the United States, the event was the first WrestleMania to stream on the ESPN app as well as the first to air live on ESPN's linear channels, as the first hour of each night were simulcast on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively.
The card comprised a total of 13 matches, with seven on Night 1 and six on Night 2. In the main event of Night 1, Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton to retain SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship. In other matches, Liv Morgan defeated Stephanie Vaquer to win Raw's Women's World Championship, Gunther defeated Seth Rollins, and in the opening bout, LA Knight and The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated IShowSpeed and The Vision (Logan Paul and Austin Theory) in a six-man tag team match. The first night saw the returns of Paige, who last worked for WWE in 2022 but had not wrestled for the company since December 2017, and Bron Breakker, who had been out with an injury since February. Bianca Belair, who had been out for nearly a year due to an injury, also made an appearance to announce her pregnancy.
In the main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk to win Raw's World Heavyweight Championship. In other matches, Rhea Ripley defeated Jade Cargill to win SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship, Penta successfully defended Raw's WWE Intercontinental Championship in a six-man ladder match, and in the opening bout, Oba Femi defeated Brock Lesnar in what was the latter's final ever WrestleMania match due to his retirement at SummerSlam later that year, though Lesnar did initially tease a retirement after that match.
Production
Background WrestleMania is WWE's flagship professional wrestling premium live event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first pay-per-view (PPV) produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched its former standalone service, the WWE Network, in February 2014. It is the longest-running event in WWE history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April, featuring wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands. It is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four", and is considered one of the "Big Five" with the elevation of Money in the Bank in 2021. WrestleMania was ranked the sixth-most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes in 2019, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.
In February 2025, reports emerged that WrestleMania 42 would take place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, the same venue that hosted WrestleMania XXX in 2014 and WrestleMania 34 in 2018. On the February 21 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, TKO board of directors member and part-time WWE wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson announced WrestleMania 42 would emanate from the Caesars Superdome on April 11 and 12, 2026. However, on May 22, 2025, WrestleMania 42 was confirmed to no longer take place in New Orleans. While the specifics of the change were not revealed at the time, this came as part of a larger agreement, with New Orleans instead hosting a future WrestleMania, as well as the 2026 Money in the Bank. Reports also emerged alleging that, with the financial success of WrestleMania 41 being held in Las Vegas, WrestleMania 42 may return to the area, while other reports suggested a possible international location.
During the 2025 Money in the Bank event on June 7, WWE confirmed WrestleMania 42 would be held at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada on April 18 and 19, 2026, marking the third WrestleMania in the Las Vegas area, including WrestleMania IX in 1993, and the third WWE event held at Allegiant Stadium, including the 2021 SummerSlam. Allegiant Stadium also became the first venue since the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to host consecutive WrestleManias, having hosted WrestleMania IV in 1988 and WrestleMania V in 1989. Las Vegas paid US$6 million to host the event again, a $1 million increase over WrestleMania 41, with the city hoping it would boost tourism after a downward trend in 2025. Two-day combo tickets went on sale on September 24, 2025, with single day tickets on sale from November 28, 2025. The official theme songs for the event were the 2025 remix of "Back in the Saddle" by Aerosmith and Yungblud, and "Bones for the Crows" by Nickelback.
Broadcast outlets WrestleMania 42 was available to livestream on the ESPN streaming service in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Abema in Japan.
This marked the first WrestleMania to livestream on the ESPN streaming service, as ESPN acquired the streaming rights to WWE's main roster events in the United States beginning with Wrestlepalooza in September 2025, following the expiration of WWE's contract with Peacock. ESPN had originally been slated to begin broadcasting main roster PLEs in the United States with WrestleMania 42; however, as Peacock's agreement with WWE referred to the airing of a specified number of events, rather than on a fixed end date, the expansion of WWE's calendar—including all WrestleManias on Peacock being two nights since 2021 and the 2025 SummerSlam expanding to two nights, as well as the all-women's event Evolution in 2025—caused Peacock to reach the number of WWE events allotted in their agreement ahead of schedule. This was also notably the first WrestleMania to not air on the WWE Network since it launched in 2014 as the service permanently shut down on April 1 in the last four remaining countries that were still on the platform.
During the February 27, 2026, episode of Friday Night SmackDown, WWE announced that in the United States, the first hour of each night would be simulcast on ESPN2 and ESPN, respectively, marking the first PLE to air live on ESPN's linear channels.
Other WrestleMania weekend events As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE held a number of events throughout the weekend. On April 17, WWE kicked off WrestleMania Weekend with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Friday Night SmackDown, which hosted the annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, won by Royce Keys. Subsequently, following SmackDowns broadcast, the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony commenced. After WrestleMania Saturday's conclusion, there was a comedy event, Kill Tony: WrestleMania, hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe. WrestleMania Weekend concluded with the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania on April 20. SmackDown and Raw were held live at the nearby T-Mobile Arena, while the Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held at Dolby Live at Park MGM. Also as part of WrestleMania 42 week, WWE partnered with independent wrestling promotion Future Stars of Wrestling (FSW) to co-promote a WWE ID Showcase event at the HyperX Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.
In partnership with Fanatics Events, WWE also hosted the third annual WWE World at WrestleMania, a five-day fan convention held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The event began on Thursday, April 16 and ran through Monday, April 20. It included interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers, live podcast recordings, meet-and-greets with wrestlers, a large merchandise store with various memorabilia honoring WrestleMania's 42-year history, and live matches, with some of the matches broadcast on YouTube.
Celebrity involvement
As is tradition at WrestleMania, various celebrities from outside of wrestling participated in various capacities. The Las Vegas Mass Choir performed "God Bless America" to kick off Night 1, while singer-songwriter and Jonas Brothers co-lead singer Joe Jonas, accompanied by Jack Lawless and JinJoo Lee from Jonas' band DNCE, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" to kick off Night 2. Rapper Lil Yachty was in the corner of his friend Trick Williams for his match at the event. Social media influencer and online streamer IShowSpeed wrestled in a six-man tag team match on Night 1, teaming with The Vision (Logan Paul and Austin Theory). Songwriter and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda narrated the cold open for both nights. The Wonder Years performed Becky Lynch's theme song for her entrance. Sports media personality and former WWE commentator Pat McAfee and rapper and singer Jelly Roll were involved in the main event of Night 1.
Storylines The event included 13 matches that resulted from scripted storylines, with seven on Night 1 and six on Night 2. Results were predetermined by WWE writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Main event matches
At the Royal Rumble on January 31, Raw's Roman Reigns won the men's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 42. Reigns appeared on the following episode of Raw where he was interrupted by Raw's World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk, who claimed that Reigns could choose the easy path and face SmackDown's world champion or choose the hard path and face him. Punk reminded Reigns that he was ultimately responsible for Reigns's overall success in WWE as he was the one who brought him onto the main roster as part of The Shield in 2012. Punk also outlined how he was a fighting champion, in comparison to Reigns, who barely showed up to defend his title during his previous title reign. Reigns recounted his dislike of Punk, stemming from comments that Punk had made about Reigns on a podcast after Punk left WWE in early 2014, which caused fans to turn on him and made his job harder. He also brought up that Punk caused Paul Heyman to turn on him at WrestleMania 41 and informed Punk that he was ultimately the one responsible for Punk's return to WWE at the 2023 Survivor Series: WarGames, as management consulted his approval. Although Reigns had showed respect to Punk after they teamed up in the WarGames match at the 2025 Survivor Series: WarGames on November 29, Reigns decided that out of his overall hatred for Punk, he would challenge him at WrestleMania 42 for the World Heavyweight Championship. With Punk retaining the title at Elimination Chamber on February 28, this confirmed his status as defending champion at the Grandest Stage of Them All. The match was later confirmed to main event Night 2. Two days before his match, Reigns stated that if he lost, he would leave WWE.