Rumors have been circulating for months that Orlando, FL is the current front-runner to host 2017's WrestleMania 33, but city mayor Buddy Dyer has left nothing to chance - he personally flew to Stamford, CT to meet with WWE chairman Vince McMahon and McMahon's executive team. While there, Dyer put in a bid for Orlando's renovated Citrus Bowl to host the event in 2017 and a backup bid to host WrestleMania 34 in 2018. Though WWE's base of operations is in the Northeastern U.S., the company has developed deep ties with the city of Orlando in recent years. WWE's much-heralded Performance Center opened in the city in 2013, and the company's developmental brand, NXT, runs most of its shows out of Orlando's Full Sail University. Were in a competition right now, and we understand its down to a handful of cities for 2017, Dyer told the Miami Herald, adding, Wed love to get in a rotation where comes here every four or six years." Orlando has already hosted one WrestleMania - prior to its renovation, the Citrus Bowl was the site of the 2008 event. At that show, The Undertaker defeated Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship and Shawn Michaels beat Ric Flair to end "The Nature Boy's" career.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
