WWE Announces WrestleMania Coming To MetLife Stadium Next Year
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- WrestleMania is coming to MetLife Stadium in 2013.
WWE announced late Wednesday on its website that WrestleMania 29 has been scheduled for April 7 of next year.
Gov. Chris Christie held a news conference Thursday, along with the owners of the New York Giants and Jets, the NFL teams that co-own the stadium, at the two-year-old stadium to announce the details.
1010 WINS' John Montone reports
Podcast
Vince McMahon and wrestlers Dwayne "The Rock'' Johnson, John Cena, Triple H, and Sheamus were also in attendance.
"Fans will converge from every state in the union, so many many countries all around the world, to witness thesplendor and grandeur and the majesty of WrestleMania," WWE's Vince McMahon said Thursday.
Champion John Cena told WCBS 880 reporter Paul Murnane that wrestling is a mother of invention.
"We pretty much coined sports entertainment before there was sports entertainment. And if you look at how sports presents itself, a lot of relationships between good and bad, some of the players and their attitudes, it runs very parallel with the WWE," Cena said.
"You're gonna have fans from all across the country and from around the world who are going to come, generating tens of millions of dollars," said Christie.
The Rock shrugged off any unflattering comparison to other big events.
"There is nothing like this type of platform that instantly gives me that connection with the audience. So, whether you like the WWE or you don't, whether you love or you don't, that's okay," he told Murnane.
WrestleMania XXVIII will be held in Miami on April. The event, which has a week's worth of activities, generally fills stadiums. Last year's event in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta drew a crowd of 71,617 and generated millions in revenue for the region.
The traditional WrestleMania Week activities, including WrestleMania Axxess, the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and Monday Night Raw will take place across the New York/New Jersey area in the days leading up to the show.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane At The Meadowlands
Podcast
Since making the full-time shift to holding the spectacle in football stadiums in 2007, the production has rivaled the Super Bowl. WrestleMania drew 72,219 fans at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2010; 72,744 to Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2009; 74,635 to the Citrus Bowl in 2008 and 80,103 to Ford Field in 2007.
Are you excited? Let us know below...
(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
