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WWE Announces WrestleMania 36 will be in Tampa Bay on April 5, 2020 (Full Recap of Press Conference)

By John Canton • Published 7th March 2019
TJR Wrestling

It is official now. Next year’s WrestleMania, the 36th edition of WWE’s biggest show of the year, will take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida on April 5, 2020. The stadium is where the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers play and it should hold around 70,000 people for WrestleMania. The news broke last week and it was actually rumored for months, so today’s announcement was WWE’s way of making it official.

As has been the case since WrestleMania 31, WWE has stopped putting a number on the WrestleMania logo. The rumored reason is that Vince McMahon felt like it made WrestleMania feel old. What it should make him feel is proud because 36 years of WrestleMania is impressive.

In addition to WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium, WrestleMania Axxess will be held at the Tampa Convention Center. The Amalie Arena, which is the home of the NHL’s Lightning, will host the WWE Hall of Fame, NXT Takeover, Raw and Smackdown with Smackdown on the Friday night since it will be on Fox starting in October 2019.

This is the fourth time since 2008 that WWE has held a WrestleMania in the state of Florida: WrestleMania 24 in 2008 was in Orlando, WrestleMania 28 in 2012 was in Miami, WrestleMania 34 in 2018 was in Orlando and now Tampa Bay gets WrestleMania 36 in 2020.

Here’s the official press release from WWE:

Tampa Bay to Host WrestleMania®

03/07/2019

TAMPA BAY, Fla.– Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, the Tampa Sports Authority and WWE® (NYSE: WWE) are proud to announce that Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay will host WWE’s pop-culture extravaganza, WrestleMania, on Sunday, April 5, 2020.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190307005435/en/

“Tampa Bay is proud to host WrestleMania,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. “Our region enjoys a special place in sports entertainment history and has produced many of its iconic figures. We look forward to WWE fans from around the world converging on our city in 2020 to enjoy all that we have to offer.”

“On behalf of everyone at WWE, we thank Mayor Buckhorn and Commissioner Hagan for bringing WrestleMania to Tampa Bay for the first time,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “I am confident that Tampa Bay will be an outstanding host for our fans around the world.”

“We are honored to bring WrestleMania back to Florida,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan. “The week of WWE events will not only bring excitement to fans, but also generate a significant economic boom for Tampa Bay’s economy.”

WrestleMania is more than just a one-day event; it’s a week-long celebration. In addition to WrestleMania 36, other activities planned include WrestleMania Axxess, WWE’s interactive fan festival, as well as four nights of events; SmackDown® Live; 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony; NXT® TakeOver™ and Monday Night Raw®. WWE will also host more than a dozen community outreach events, including hospital visits and Be a STAR® bullying prevention rallies, designed to give back to the local region.

Over the past 12 years, WrestleMania has generated more than $1.2 billion in cumulative economic impact for the cities that have hosted the event. This year, WrestleMania 35 takes place Sunday, April 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and streams live around the world on WWE Network.

WWE held a press conference at 11am this morning on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

WWE WrestleMania 36 Press Conference Recap

The press conference began with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan. He said that it’s special for him since it’s his hometown and this is where he fell in love with wrestling. Hogan said people come up to him about 1988 when he slammed Andre the Giant (it was 1987). Hogan talked about some of his other WrestleMania and talked about how special it is. Hogan spoke about what this means to him while talking about the energy that will be in the stadium during WrestleMania. Hogan said it’ll be amazing, he can’t wait and it will be bigger than ever. Hogan ended it saying what are you going to do when Hulkamania and WrestleMania run wild on you.

John Saboor, who is WWE’s EVP of Special Events. He talked about how it’s a special day, so he’s the host of this thing.

Ken Hagan, who is the Hillsborough County Florida Commissioner, was up next. He spoke about how big of an event this will be for Florida. He officially announced that WrestleMania 36 will be on April 5, 2020 in Tampa Bay. He said they’ll do what they can to make it the best WrestleMania ever.

Stephanie McMahon, who is WWE’s Chief Brand Officer, was up next. She loves her theme song. She started off noting that Forbes named WrestleMania one of the top 10 sports brands in the world. She said if they do their jobs right, the audience will be left with memories that will last a lifetime. Stephanie talked about some great moments in WrestleMania history and of course, she mentioned Ronda Rousey teaming with Kurt Angle to beat Steph and Triple H last year. She said for each one of our fans, these moments are a chapter of our lives. She talked about families making WrestleMania trips because it’s the one place where they come together to share the one thing they have in common, their passion for WWE. She bragged about all of WWE’s success on Youtube, social media and how people will be talking about them. She spoke about their mission about putting smiles on people’s faces and how they have a Be A Star rally in Tampa later.

Titus O’Neil was the next speaker. He spoke about WWE’s charity work. He does a lot of awesome stuff for the community, especially there in Tampa. He spoke about going to the Boys & Girls Club later for the Be A Star rally. He said he was excited. It was a quick speech.

Bob Buckhorn, the Mayor of Tampa, was up next. He joked that he’s two months away from being an Uber driver since his run as mayor is coming to an end. He spoke about generations of people grew up watching wrestling at the Armory in Tampa. He said whether it was Hulk Hogan, Brian Blair (who was in the audience) or Titus O’Neil, it was about bringing people together. He spoke about Tampa hosting big events like Super Bowls, College Football Championships and more, so this event will help put Tampa on the map. He said this is our city, this is our home and we could not be happier hosting this event. Buckhorn said he’ll wear the WWE Title that they gave him and put it in his man cave at home.

Paul Levesque aka Triple H was up next, who joked that the mayor’s wife will probably take the title. Hunter said that Tampa is engraved in the fabric of who they are. He spoke about Dusty Rhodes taking down all the bad guys in Tampa and how that spark started here. Hunter said that WWE will do 560+ live events every year. He said there’s no spectacle like this. He spoke about how WrestleMania constantly breaks records for its host city (because they lie about attendance lol). Hunter said that they’ll make WrestleMania in Tampa one for the record books. He said that WrestleMania will show off this amazing community to the entire world and seen live over 180 countries on WWE Network. He said that they need to constantly grow, so they need to find new superstars. He spoke about the Performance Center in Orlando and the genesis of the PC started in Tampa. He said that the developmental brand became NXT, which became a global touring brand alongside Raw and Smackdown. Hunter talked about the women’s evolution started in NXT as he pointed out Sasha Banks and Bayley in the front row (Natalya was there too). Hunter spoke about how NXT was the birthplace of so many of their current stars as he listed names like Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and others. Hunter said that NXT Takeover will take place that weekend as well. Hunter said that WWE is then, now and forever. Hunter asked: “Are you ready?” He said WrestleMania will be a spectacle like you have never seen before.

Rob Higgins, the Executive Directer of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, was up next. He spoke about how they have trying to get WrestleMania for the last ten years. He thanked WWE for trusting them to host WrestleMania while mentioning people coming from all over the world and all over the US to attend WrestleMania. He thanked everybody that helped them.

John Saboor introduced some Tampa dignitaries sitting in the crowd and he thanked them.

Charlotte Flair was the next speaker and she was dressed in all white. She had a card to read off some notes. Charlotte talked about starting her career in Tampa in July 2012, then down the road at the WWE Performance Center and now she’s in WWE. She spoke about being in the biggest match of her life at WrestleMania 35 in a few weeks. She spoke about the women’s evolution and how they are just getting started. She did a “woo” to end it.

John Saboor introduced some WWE superstars sitting in the front row: Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley. Banks and Bayley had their Women’s Tag Team Titles with them.

Roman Reigns was up as the last speaker. Reigns said that everybody has already said everything that you’re going to say. He said from his short ride from his house to here at Raymond James, he said he got to think about all of the moments at WrestleMania. He spoke about wrestling Brock Lesnar, beating Triple H, beating The Undertaker in Orlando and he spoke about last year in New Orleans. He said he was coming back to the TV hotel to go through the green room, then he saw his sons running and screaming through the room. He said he saw his daughter chasing them. He spoke about how his proudest moment wasn’t being in the main event, it was about seeing the smiles on his children’s faces. He said it’s about creating those moments like seeing kids hugging or reacting to Brock Lesnar. He spoke about how you just never know what special moment might be. Roman’s music hit and he left.

John Saboor had some final thoughts where he thanked everybody for making time to be with them.

The broadcast lasted 43 minutes. You can watch it on WWE’s Youtube channel and I’ve pasted it below. Thanks for reading.