Wrestlemania 42 is heading back to the Big Easy after a gap of eight years and for the third time in the history of the biggest WWE premium live event of the year. In light of The Rock’s sudden inclusion in this week’s Smackdown from New Orleans, speculations were already there about a massive announcement on the show.
The Rock then appeared on Friday’s show at the Smoothie King Center to announce that WWE’s biggest annual event for next year that’s Wrestlemania 42 will be held at the Caesars Superdome (FKA Mercedes-Benz Superdome) in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12, 2026. As noted above, this marks the third time that this particular stadium will be hosting the show, following WrestleMania 30 (2014) and WrestleMania 34 (2018).
BREAKING NEWS:
As announced by @TheRock, #WrestleMania 42 will take place LIVE from the @CaesarsDome in New Orleans, Louisiana! pic.twitter.com/3OZxLWm7IV
— WWE (@WWE) February 22, 2025
Back during these two occasions, the event used to be a one-night show only but this time around, it would be a two-night event. Starting from 2020, WWE expanded the annual PLE to two nights and Wrestlemania 42 will continue the tradition. Alongside ‘Manis, even Summerslam is getting expanded to two nights starting from this year onward.
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Wrestlemania 42 announcement was supposed to come at the Super Bowl
Speaking at the post-show press conference of Smackdown, The Rock also revealed that the original Wrestlemania 42 announcement was going to be made at the Super Bowl, which was also held in New Orleans but then it was pushed back to the February 21 episode of Smackdown due to undisclosed reasons,
“We were going to be part of the Super Bowl and make the announcement at the Super Bowl. We had a couple of hiccups that we couldn’t make that happen.” (quotes courtesy Fightful)
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WrestleVotes reported a few days ago about Wrestlemania 42 visiting NOLA for the third time. This came as a follow-up report from Fightful Select which also hinted at the city being in WWE’s long-term plans as the host dating back to when Vince McMahon was still handling things in the company going back to early 2023. However, there were unexpected shifts in plans for WrestleMania 41, and some speculated whether this decision might change, moving forward which wasn’t.