ESPN Will Air Three Past WrestleManias Leading Up to This Year’s Event
ESPN is turning to the world of pro wrestling to fill out its programming schedule in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
The network announced Friday that it will be airing reruns of past WrestleManias on each of the next three Sundays, leading up to this year’s edition of WWE’s biggest event on April 5.
“It is a privilege for us to deliver historic WrestleMania content to our world-class partners at ESPN and provide more premium programming to our fans; putting smiles on their faces particularly during this trying time,” said Stephanie McMahon, the WWE’s chief brand officer, in a statement to Variety. “We look forward to celebrating WrestleMania history with ESPN as we head into our two-night pop culture extravaganza on April 4 and 5.”
It all starts this Sunday with WrestleMania 30 airing at 7 p.m. ET. WrestleMania 32 will air at 7 p.m. ET on March 29 and WrestleMania 35 will be shown at 3 p.m. ET on April 5.
WrestleMania 30 is the 2014 edition of the event, highlighted by The Undertaker facing Brock Lesnar and two matches for beloved underdog Daniel Bryan. We won’t spoil the outcome for non-wrestling fans thinking of tuning in to get their fix of athleticism, but WWE faithful can attest that those are moments worth watching.
WrestleMania 32, held at AT&T Stadium in 2016, featured Roman Reigns against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H in the main event. It was also where WWE crowned its first Women’s Champion (after retiring the old Divas Championship) in a triple threat match between Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks.
WrestleMania 35 was held last year and was most memorable for Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship match against Bryan and the first all-female main event in WrestleMania history.
This year’s WrestleMania was initially scheduled to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but was moved to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando due to the coronavirus, where it will take place without fans present. WWE is also splitting the event up over two nights (April 4 and April 5), with Rob Gronkowski as the host.
