After years of talk about the idea of a two-night WrestleMania, it finally happened this year, but under very specific circumstance that (knock on wood) are unlikely to be repeated. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that they couldn’t have the originally planned event at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, and also that the Hall of Fame Ceremony and NXT TakeOver were cancelled entirely, creating extra space and a desire for a show that wouldn’t go on as long in one big chunk, since the experience of watching it with no live, cheering crowd was already going to be weird enough.
But now that the seal has been broken on a two-night Mania, it’s easy to wonder if that might become the standard. At least one person at the top of WWE likes the idea. Triple H, both a Hall of Famer and the Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development at WWE, was asked about it and definitely likes the idea.
As Triple H pointed out on Corey Graves’ official WWE podcast, After the Bell, WrestleMania has become such a big multi-day event anyway, that taking it to two nights makes a lot of sense, even if it might prove hard to schedule.
I think it was much more enjoyable than the 8 hour extravaganza. I think at some point that’s probably what it should be. It’s just become so big…it started out as a concert that ended up being a festival, and it’s this week-long thing. Thursday would have been Hall of Fame. Friday was SmackDown. Saturday was going to be TakeOver. Sunday would’ve been WrestleMania. Monday would’ve been Raw. It’s a week-long festival, and I think that big main stage attraction needs to be those two nights…that’s a major shift and that doesn’t come easy.
You can talk about scheduling complications all day, but if Triple H thinks it should happen and it doesn’t happen, the obvious assumption is that Vince McMahon is against the idea. And that’s understandable. He created WrestleMania, after all, and he’s not the biggest fan of new ideas that didn’t come from him. Still, now that the idea’s in the air, a two-night Mania might be inevitable.