10 Secrets Behind WWE's Stunning Current Success
7. The Road To WrestleMania
One only need to look at one and a half decades of consecutive stadium shows since WrestleMania 23 to realise just how successful the branding of the 'Showcase Of The Immortals' has been in the modern era.
The last few arena editions are unique outliers now, but 2004 (Madison Square Garden symmetry still mattered), 2005 (Hollywood gave the show value and recognition before a stadium allowed for the upscale) and 2006 (white hot Chicago crowd, but the last time WWE allowed WrestleMania to appear "small" beyond the pandemic) all neatly fit into a time of significant and difficult transition between Attitude and PG. By 2008, WrestleMania was as much for the visuals of what it is to be the market leader rather than how many people the main event could draw or if the event truly represented the pinnacle of pro wrestling.
2023's appears to be a confluence of all of the above. Returning to Hollywood but in a venue befitting the implied scale, the show will also be Triple H's first as head of creative, and January's Royal Rumble set about formalising much of a card that has promised much since he got the pencil. 'The Show Of Shows' has to be - pardon the pun - as box office as ever, but it could well be as much for the fans as the financiers this time around.
It will be carried by one storyline in particular too...