Being the first event to air on ESPN, Wrestlepalooza 2025 has been receiving heavy attention via the ongoing promotional strategy implemented by the WWE. Placed against an annual show of All Elite Wrestling, WWE is hell-bent on putting up a show that’d be worth remembering. As such, the owner of the WWE, TKO, wants this event to become one of the contenders for WWE’s Big-Four annual PLEs.
TKO President Mark Shapiro revealed WWE’s backstage planning around Wrestlepalooza 2025 during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, providing the fans a look at the company’s evolving strategy, which includes the debut of PLE on ESPN+, something that was spearheaded creatively by Triple H.
When asked about the company’s growing strategy in terms of media rights, Shapiro highlighted WWE’s decision to move its Premium Live Events (PLEs) to ESPN+ earlier than required, with the Wrestlepalooza 2025 announcement. They want to bring in some momentum via this brand-new tentpole show.
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Shapiro further noted that WWE hopes to host an annual event, continuing the tradition of Wrestlepalooza 2025 on ESPN. This particular show is expected to be built to a similar level to two of their most notable annual PLEs of the year – WrestleMania and SummerSlam. He said that the Royal Rumble is just below that level, and they feel the returning ECW show could reach that level in its first outing.
“Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner and we can bring that back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right,” Shapiro plugged in Wrestlepalooza 2025, “Triple H is spending night and day creatively around making that — making that what we think it can be, which is another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam.”
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WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025 PLE Match Card
Heavily promoted as the first WWE premium live event on ESPN, Wrestlepalooza 2025 will be airing on the newly launched ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service at 7 PM Eastern Time from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, September 20. The currently announced match card for the returning ECW show goes as follows,
– John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
– Vacant Women’s World Championship Match: IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer
– Mixed Tag Team Match: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins & WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch vs. CM Punk & AJ Lee
– The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) vs. The Vision (Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed)