WrestleMania 39, also known as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood, was a monumental professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It marked the 39th annual WrestleMania and unfolded as a two-night extravaganza on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. This event showcased wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
This WrestleMania was the first since WrestleMania 21 to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh held in the state of California. Tickets went on sale on August 12, 2022, and WrestleMania Priority Passes were available beginning July 22.
Notably, WrestleMania 39 holds the distinction of being the final WrestleMania under the ownership and control of the McMahon family, as the company was sold to Endeavor the day after the event.
Key Matches and Moments
The card boasted a total of 15 matches, with eight on Night 1 and seven on Night 2.
- Night 1 Main Event: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn triumphed over The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to claim the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, ending The Usos' record-setting reign. This marked the first time a tag team championship match headlined WrestleMania since WrestleMania I in 1985.
- Night 2 Main Event: Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Other prominent matches included:
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- Seth "Freakin" Rollins vs. Logan Paul
- Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio
- Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship
- Austin Theory vs. John Cena for the United States Championship
- Edge vs. "The Demon" Finn Bálor in a Hell in a Cell match
- Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship
- Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship
- Brock Lesnar vs. Omos
Celebrity Appearances
As is tradition at WrestleMania, celebrities outside of WWE were involved in various roles:
- Becky G performed "America the Beautiful" for Night 1.
- Jimmie Allen did the same for Night 2.
- Kevin Hart did the cold open for both nights.
- Snoop Dogg co-hosted the event, drove Rey Mysterio out for his entrance on Night 1, and wrestled an impromptu match during Night 2.
- Bad Bunny was a guest commentator for Mysterio's match.
- KSI was involved in Logan Paul's match.
- George Kittle assisted Pat McAfee in his match against The Miz on Night 1.
Relive all the extraordinary moments from WrestleMania 39: Raw, April 3, 2023
Chad Gable's WrestleMania Experience
Chad Gable has had more opportunities to present himself in the Triple H era, and he recently talked about what that meant for him at WrestleMania. Gable and Otis were guests on Out of Character with Ryan Satin and Gable talked about how this year’s big PPV felt different to him.
Gable shared his unique perspective on WrestleMania 39, noting a shift in his mindset:
Gable on his mindset at WrestleMania: “I have kind of a little tradition, it’s nothing crazy every year. But like, when we get to the stadium for Mania I’ll go out, walk around, do a lap in the arena and just take everything in. And [it] kind of like blows you away, just the magnitude of the size of our sets and the setup, and how they do it. So you get this initial kind of being blown away by everything.
“But this year was unique for me, personally. I was just telling my mom and dad yesterday, they were here like for the first time. I walked out and I wasn’t like - I wasn’t blown away in that sense that I was in the past. I was more in the moment, and just feeling it than I ever have been. And I don’t know why that is, if it was a certain specific energy from this crowd here? But man, it felt good. It was like you could just feel everybody’s emotion and excitement. And it was all like pushed in this one little ball in this little area, and you got every bit of it.
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On if the different feel was because of how Triple H has been presenting him: “I mean, that’s definitely a possibility now that you mention that. And I think the way that Hunter has used me over the past eight, nine months allowed me to show everybody what I can do technically. Also on the character side of things. And what that does I think, in the long term it earns the respect of our fans. Because they sniff that out. And it’s not just a thing where, ‘Oh yeah, he’s a good wrestler.’ No, he’s also entertaining us in the meantime.
“And I really got a sense of that after the suplex to Braun [Strowman] that you mentioned, It was like, I did this thing, and it got the initial ‘Oh my gosh’ from everybody. But then about 15 seconds later, it got like a nod of respect round of applause from everybody, which is like ‘thank you.’ It’s almost like a thank you to me.
WrestleMania Week Festivities
As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE held a number of events throughout the week, including:
- A special "WrestleMania Edition" of Monday Night Raw on March 27 in Phoenix, Arizona.
- A "WrestleMania Edition" of Friday Night SmackDown, featuring the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, won by Bobby Lashley.
- The 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
- NXT Stand & Deliver.
- The Raw after WrestleMania.
- WWE-themed week on Wheel of Fortune.
- The Undertaker's 1 deadMAN Show.
Match Backgrounds and Storylines
The event included matches that each resulted from scripted storylines. Here are some of the key storylines leading into WrestleMania 39:
- Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes: While Rhodes simply wanted to win the championship to bring honor to his family, Reigns, by way of his special counsel Paul Heyman, made it personal.
- Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. The Bloodline: Since late 2020, Kevin Owens had an on and off feud with The Bloodline.
- Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley: On the February 20 episode of Raw, Omos and his manager MVP addressed the match between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley from Elimination Chamber.
- Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus: On the March 10 episode of SmackDown, a fatal five-way match was contested, where the winner would face Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39.
- John Cena vs. Austin Theory: Since April 2022, Austin Theory and John Cena had been teasing a match against each other over social media.
- Seth "Freakin" Rollins vs. Logan Paul: At the Royal Rumble, Logan Paul made a surprise return as an entrant in the men's Royal Rumble match and eliminated Seth "Freakin" Rollins.
- Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio: Rey Mysterio would also have his own issues with The Judgment Day, which only heightened when his own son Dominik turned on him to join Judgment Day at Clash at the Castle in September 2022.
Reception
The event received generally positive reviews from critics. The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the SmackDown Women's Championship matches were singled out as highlights, with the former two rated five stars by Dave Meltzer. Critics also praised the Men's WrestleMania Showcase fatal four-way tag team match, Logan Paul vs. Seth "Freakin" Rollins, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, and the Hell in a Cell match.
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WWE's use of Auschwitz footage in a staged video promoting the Mysterio match drew criticism for exploiting genuine historic footage, leading WWE to apologize and state its inclusion was due to an editing error.
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