The worst-kept secret in WWE has finally been revealed.
During Saturday’s Money In The Bank premium live event, WWE officially announced that WrestleMania 42 would return to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. The two-day event will be held on April 18-19, 2026, pushing the show back a week from its original scheduled dates.
It is the first time WrestleMania has been in the same city two years in a row since 1989, when WWE hosted the fourth and fifth renditions of the event in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In February, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson mentioned on an episode of SmackDown that WrestleMania 42 was heading to New Orleans. However, it was reported weeks ago that the city would no longer be hosting the event, getting Money In The Bank 2026 instead.
So why is Wrestlemania returning to Vegas so soon?
While the move was met with some chagrin from WWE fans, it made too much sense from a business perspective.
WrestleMania 41 in April yielded the largest gate in the event’s history, with over 124,000 people attending the show across both nights. The event also broke merchandise, sponsorship and hospitality records. Also helping was the city of Las Vegas itself, with WWE receiving $4.2 million in tax credits for WrestleMania, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Another part of the decision goes to TKO Group Holdings Inc., who own both the WWE and UFC.
UFC is already based heavily out of Las Vegas, so the combination of last year’s financial success and TKO’s familiarity with the area made moving the event too enticing to ignore. There was also speculation suggesting TKO would base WrestleMania and other larger WWE events out of Las Vegas more often. However, nothing concrete has been established yet.
What is confirmed, however, is that WWE is betting big on Las Vegas to deliver another big WrestleMania showing.
