TKO Group Holdings President and COO Mark Shapiro recently admitted that bringing WrestleMania back to Las Vegas for two straight years may not have been the best decision. WWE held WrestleMania in Las Vegas in both 2025 and 2026.
The second event reportedly struggled compared to the first year. Reports about weaker ticket sales for WrestleMania 42 even became part of WWE storylines on television. Now, Shapiro has acknowledged that returning to the same city back-to-back likely hurt the event’s momentum.
Mark Shapiro questions WWE’s WrestleMania Vegas return
Speaking with Yahoo! Finance’s Brian Sozzi in an interview recorded before WrestleMania 42, Shapiro discussed the criticism surrounding ticket prices and attendance for the event. Shapiro first explained that WWE, UFC, and PBR are still seeing strong business despite current economic challenges.
However, while discussing WrestleMania’s return to Las Vegas, Shapiro admitted the company may have made the wrong call by running the same city two years in a row.
“I would tell you that Vegas is two years in a row for WrestleMania 42. So, some of the challenges we had there is usually we move WrestleMania year after year to a new spot, and that allows us to obviously grow and see the kind of economic impact we would expect.”
“Maybe it’s a mistake I made because Vegas was so huge last year and such a winner for our fans and the product that I said to Nick Khan, who runs the WWE, we got to go back to Vegas next year. Like, we have to move New Orleans down the road and we got to come back to Vegas. I mean, Las Vegas, I don’t need to tell you, is the mecca for great events.”
“More and more events are moving there. Music has residencies and more and more sports teams, evidenced by the NHL and soon-to-be Major League Baseball, are popping up there with teams to come. Obviously, the Raiders are a massive success in Las Vegas.”
“So, absolutely no regrets on going back there. But the only reason you’re hearing some of ‘hey, it’s not what it was last year’ is because we’re not benefiting from the first mover experience.” Finally, Shapiro confirmed that WrestleMania will return to WWE’s traditional format of changing locations every year moving forward.
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