WrestleMania 37

Production

Background

WrestleMania is WWE's flagship professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first pay-per-view produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched the WWE Network in 2014. It is the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". WrestleMania is ranked the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes, and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment. Much like the Super Bowl, cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. WrestleMania 37 featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions—unlike WrestleMania 36, it did not feature the NXT brand. "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd, "Head Up High" by Fitz, and "All The Gold" by def rebel were the official theme songs for the event. WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil served as the hosts of WrestleMania 37.

WrestleMania 37 was originally scheduled to be held in the city of Inglewood, California at SoFi Stadium on March 28, 2021, marketed as WrestleMania Hollywood. It would have been the first since WrestleMania 21 to be held in Greater Los Angeles, and the seventh held in the state of California (after 2, VII, XII, 2000, 21, and 31). However, on January 16, WWE officially confirmed that WrestleMania 37 would be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida—the originally planned venue for WrestleMania 36—as a two-night event on Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11, 2021. It was the fifth WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida (after XXIV, XXVIII, 33, and 36). WrestleMania 37 adopted much of the pirate-themed marketing originally used for WrestleMania 36, including having a similar logo. It was also the first WWE event to have ticketed fans in attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets were originally to go on sale on March 16, but were delayed. Pre-sale tickets were then available on March 18 before tickets went on sale the following day. Individual tickets for each night, as well as two-night bundle packages, were made available, with a maximum capacity of 25,000 spectators for each night.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE suspended its touring arena shows in mid-March 2020, and moved its weekly broadcasts for the Raw and SmackDown brands, as well as pay-per-views, to their WWE Performance Center training facility in Orlando, Florida, with no outside spectators and only essential staff present. This included WrestleMania 36, which was the first pay-per-view to be affected by the pandemic. NXT continued to broadcast from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, but with similar limitations. In late August, WWE moved its programming for Raw and SmackDown to Orlando's Amway Center in a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome to display a virtual audience on LED displays around the ring, but still without outside spectators. In October, NXT moved to the Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center (which included a small live audience), while in December, the ThunderDome relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Broadcast outlets

WrestleMania 37 was available on traditional pay-per-view. Additionally, on January 25, 2021, WWE announced that the streaming service Peacock would become the exclusive distributor of the WWE Network in the United States as part of a new agreement with NBCUniversal, which at the time aired Monday Night Raw and NXT on the USA Network. On March 18, the WWE Network became a premium channel on Peacock, with premium subscribers to the service receiving access to the WWE Network at no additional cost. WrestleMania 37 was the first WrestleMania produced under this new agreement. After a brief transitional period, the standalone version of the WWE Network in the U.S. shut down on April 4, with future events only available via Peacock's WWE Network channel and traditional PPV. These changes did not impact the WWE Network outside of the U.S., which maintained the standalone service distributed by WWE and its existing partners. Following the event, WWE stated that WrestleMania 37 was Peacock's most-viewed live event to date, although they did not specify exact numbers.

Celebrity involvement

As is tradition at WrestleMania, celebrities from the entertainment field took part in the event in various capacities. Pop singer Bebe Rexha performed "America the Beautiful" prior to the show on Night 1, while country singer Ashland Craft did the same for Night 2. Two celebrities were directly involved in matches at the event. Rapper Bad Bunny wrestled in a tag team match, teaming with Damian Priest against The Miz and John Morrison on Night 1, while YouTube personality, actor, and boxer Logan Paul was the guest cornerman for Sami Zayn in his match against Kevin Owens on Night 2. Additionally, two musical artists performed the entrance themes for wrestlers' entrances live on Night 2. Singer Ash Costello from the rock band New Year's Day played Rhea Ripley's entrance theme, "Brutality", for Ripley's entrance for her Raw Women's Championship match against defending champion Asuka, while rapper Wale did the same for Big E and his entrance theme "Feel The Power" for his Intercontinental Championship defense against Apollo Crews.

Other WrestleMania Week events

As part of the WrestleMania festivities during the week of the event, WWE held a number of events throughout the week. WrestleMania 37 Week began with the April 5 episode of Raw. The 2021 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony then aired the following night on April 6. WWE's NXT brand held their major event, TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, on April 7 and 8, while a special episode of NXT UK called "Prelude" also aired midday on April 8. On April 9, the night before WrestleMania 37 Night 1, WWE aired a special "WrestleMania Edition" of SmackDown. The episode featured the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Jey Uso and was previously held at WrestleMania itself (with the exception of WrestleMania 36, in which the match was canceled due to concerns over the pandemic). The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was also defended on the episode in a fatal four-way match where Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode retained. Early on April 11, Peacock and WWE Network premiered a new episode of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, which featured AEW's Chris Jericho for the first time on WWE programming in nearly three years. The week was capped off by the Raw after WrestleMania on Monday April 12, and then finally, NXT began airing in its new Tuesday night slot.

Storylines

The event consisted of 14 matches that were evenly divided between the two nights. The matches resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Immediately following WrestleMania XXVII in April 2011, Edge, who at the time held the now-defunct World Heavyweight Championship, was forced to retire and relinquish his title due to a severe neck injury; Edge was then inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012. After nine years and two neck surgeries, Edge made his return as a surprise entrant at the 2020 Royal Rumble, making it to the final three. The following year, Edge declared his participation for the 2021 Royal Rumble, vowing to win the men's Royal Rumble match so he could go to WrestleMania 37 and become a world champion again, as he had never lost his world title. At the event on January 31, Edge entered the match at number one and went on to win as a Raw wrestler and earned himself a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 37. Over the next week, Edge appeared on Raw, NXT, and SmackDown, confronting each brand's world champion, but stated he would wait until after Elimination Chamber to make his decision. After SmackDown's Universal Champion Roman Reigns retained his title against Daniel Bryan at the event, Edge appeared and performed a Spear on Reigns. He then pointed to the WrestleMania sign, indicating that Edge had chosen to challenge Reigns for the Universal Championship, which was later confirmed. This came after Reigns demanded Edge to choose him, and after Reigns attacked Edge with a Spear on the February 19 episode of SmackDown. However, Bryan also pursued Reigns for another championship match, mocking Reigns for defending the title against him immediately after Bryan had won SmackDown's Elimination Chamber match. At Fastlane, Bryan faced Reigns for the championship once again, with Edge acting as the special guest enforcer; Reigns won the match after Edge attacked both men with a steel chair. On the March 26 episode of SmackDown, WWE official Adam Pearce scheduled Reigns to defend the Universal Championship against Bryan and Edge in a triple threat match at WrestleMania in the main event of Night 2.

At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's Bianca Belair won the women's Royal Rumble match to earn herself a women's world championship match of her choice at WrestleMania 37. Belair discussed facing the three brands' champions over the next few weeks, but had primarily gotten involved in segments with SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks. Although Banks complimented Belair, she claimed that Belair was not the best as she did not have the SmackDown Women's Championship, playing off Belair's "EST" gimmick. On the February 26 episode of SmackDown, Belair decided that she would challenge Banks for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 37. The match was scheduled for the main event of Night 1, marking the second women's match to main event a WrestleMania after 35.

Event

Both nights included a one-hour pre-show. WrestleMania 37 Kickoff – Night 1 previewed the matches for the first night's match card, while WrestleMania 37 Kickoff – Night 2 did the same for the second night. Unlike the previous events, neither pre-show included any matches. Both pre-shows aired on Peacock/WWE Network, and on WWE's social media platforms. The pre-show panel included host Kayla Braxton — joined by Jerry Lawler, Booker T, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, and Peter Rosenberg, as well as guest Sonya Deville.

Night 1

The actual pay-per-view opened with WWE chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahon welcoming the fans in attendance back to WrestleMania, and back to a WWE event in over a year. This was then followed by Bebe Rexha performing "America the Beautiful". Shortly after, the event was put on hold for over 30 minutes due to inclement weather, marking the first-ever weather delay in WrestleMania history. During this time, various wrestlers were interviewed about their respective matches. The event eventually resumed with hosts Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil coming out to hype up the crowd.

In the first match, Bobby Lashley (accompanied by MVP) defended the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre. During the match, Lashley performed a spinebuster on McIntyre for a nearfall. McIntyre performed an inverted Alabama Slam on Lashley for a nearfall. Lashley performed another spinebuster on McIntyre. McIntyre performed a belly-to-belly suplex and three consecutive Future Shock DDTs on Lashley for a nearfall. As McIntyre attempted the Claymore Kick, MVP brought Lashley outside of the ring, only for McIntyre to leap over the top rope to take both men out. Back inside the ring, McIntyre applied a kimura lock, but Lashley made it to the rope to escape. In the closing moments, McIntyre performed a Glasgow Kiss on Lashley and attempted a Claymore Kick, but MVP distracted McIntyre, allowing Lashley to avoid the move and apply the Hurt Lock. McIntyre was able to momentarily ease up the maneuver by kicking off the ropes, but Lashley kept the hold applied on McIntyre, who passed out, thus Lashley retained the title by technical submission.

Next, a tag team turmoil match was contested where the winners would face Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on Night 2. The team of Lana and Naomi, and the team of Billie Kay and Carmella started the match. Kay and Carmella worked together, and eliminated Lana and Naomi with an assisted pinfall on Naomi. The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott) entered next. The Riott Squad quickly eliminated Kay and Carmella with a Gutbuster/Back Stomp combination on Kay. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose entered next. Brooke and Rose were eliminated after Morgan pinned Brooke with an inside cradle. The final team to enter was Natalya and Tamina. In the end, Tamina performed a Superfly Splash on Riott to win the match thus securing the championship match on Night 2.

After that, Cesaro faced Seth Rollins. As Rollins went for The Stomp, Cesaro countered with the Cesaro Swing and locked in The Sharpshooter, however Rollins countered. Cesaro performed a Neutralizer on Rollins for a nearfall. As Cesaro attempted another Neutralizer, Rollins countered into the Pedigree for a nearfall. As Rollins went for another Stomp, Cesaro caught Rollins in mid-air with an uppercut. Cesaro then spun Rollins with the UFO and the Cesaro Swing before performing a second Neutralizer on Rollins to win the match.

Night 2

The actual pay-per-view opened with Ashland Craft performing "America the Beautiful". Hosts Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil came out in pirate outfits to hype the crowd.

The first match saw Randy Orton face The Fiend. Before the Fiend made his entrance, a short video clip was shown where the Fiend became healed and returned to his original unburnt Fiend attire, though with an altered top. Then, Alexa Bliss came out and turned the handle of a giant jack-in-the-box at ringside and the Fiend emerged from the box. The Fiend leapt off the box onto Orton and the match began. The Fiend applied the Mandible Claw twice on Orton, however Orton escaped both times. As the Fiend attempted a Sister Abigail, pyro erupted from the turnbuckles and Bliss, who was perched atop the jack-in-the-box, distracted the Fiend with black liquid oozing down her face. This allowed Orton to perform the RKO on the Fiend to win the match. After the match, the Fiend stared at Bliss. The lights then went out and when they illuminated, the Fiend and Bliss were gone.

Next, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defended the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against Natalya and Tamina. Tamina performed a Samoan Drop on Baszler for a nearfall. Jax performed a Crossbody onto Natalya and Tamina, however she landed awkwardly on her knee. As Tamina attempted for the Superfly Splash, Jax moved out of the way. In the end, Natalya attempted to apply the Sharpshooter on Jax, unaware that Baszler was the legal partner. Baszler then applied the Kirifuda Clutch on Natalya, who passed out, to retain the titles by technical submission.

After that, Sami Zayn faced Kevin Owens with Logan Paul at ringside for Zayn. Owens immediately performed the Pop-Up Powerbomb on Zayn. Zayn performed a Brainbuster to Owens on the ring apron. Zayn performed the Blue Thunder Bomb on Owens for a nearfall. In the end, Owens performed a Fisherman's Suplex on Zayn off the second rope. Zayn performed the Helluva Kick on Owens, and as Zayn attempted another Helluva Kick, Owens countered and performed two Superkicks and a Stunner on Zayn to win the match. Following the match, Paul attempted to congratulate Owens on his victory which enraged Zayn. Zayn then got into an altercation with Paul, who then shoved him in the ring. Paul then raised Owens' hand in celebration, after which Owens performed a Stunner on Paul.

In the fourth match, Riddle defended the United States Championship against Sheamus. In the end, as Riddle was performing a moonsault, Sheamus caught him in midair with a Brogue Kick, which busted Riddle's mouth open, allowing Sheamus to pin Riddle and win the title.

Reception

After Bray Wyatt's loss against Randy Orton at the event, various personalities like UFC's Daniel Cormier, John Cena Sr., Booker T, Erick Rowan, and Mark Madden showed support to Wyatt and criticized his booking treatment in WWE.

The event received generally positive reviews from critics. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter rated Cesaro vs. Rollins and the main event 4 stars, the highest rated matches on Night 1. In 2026, Lash Legend named the Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks SmackDown Women's Championship match as her favorite wrestling match of all time, saying the match "speaks to me the most" because of where she was in her WWE journey and how she visualized herself in that position. The highest rated match of Night 2 was the main event triple threat match, which received 4.5 stars out of 5. Asuka vs. Ripley received 3.75 out of 5 stars, the US Title match received 4 stars out of 5, and the Intercontinental Title match was rated 3 out of 5 stars. Wyatt vs. Orton received criticism and a -1 star rating, making it the lowest rated match across both nights.

According to WWE, the event accumulated a record 1.1 billion video views across their various video and social media channels, marking a 14% increase year-over-year. WWE content also garnered a record 115 million engagement on social media during the week of WrestleMania, a 102% increase. In addition, on-site merchandise sales were said to be the highest per capita in WWE history.

Attendance

During both nights of the event, WWE claimed that they had sold out of all available tickets, which were capped at 25,000 per night; however, the company claimed an attendance of 25,675 spectators for each night, totaling 51,350 combined. These numbers were disputed. According to records from the Tampa Sports Authority, which maintains Raymond James Stadium, the first night actually sold 20,172 tickets, while the second night sold 20,634 for an actual total of 40,806 tickets sold, both to fans and scalpers. The actual attendance was also lower than the number of tickets sold. For the first night, there were 17,946 spectators while the second night had 18,501, totaling an actual attendance of 36,447 spectators combined. In a conference call in February 2017, Vince McMahon admitted that the company inflates these numbers and includes the venue's personnel as well as WWE personnel in their claimed numbers. Despite the inflated numbers, the event grossed $6.2 million in revenue for WWE.

Aftermath

WrestleMania 37 would be the final WWE appearance for Billie Kay, as well as Raw commentator Samoa Joe, as both were released on April 15. However, Joe returned to NXT in June and went on to win the NXT Championship that August, but relinquished it shortly afterwards, and was released a second time on January 6, 2022.

Because WrestleMania 37 had to be held in a reduced venue capacity, WWE went as far as to promote their next "Big Four" PPV, SummerSlam, as their "biggest event of 2021".

Raw

After being hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida since December 11, 2020, the WWE ThunderDome was relocated to the Yuengling Center in Tampa. The following night's Raw was the first broadcast of WWE programming produced from the ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center. This relocation was due to the start of the Tampa Bay Rays' 2021 season, as Tropicana Field is their home venue. WWE then returned to live touring in mid-July.

On the following episode of Raw, MVP declared that no one could defeat Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship. Drew McIntyre then interrupted and wanted another opportunity at Lashley, promising to take out Lashley with a Claymore Kick as he was unable to do it at WrestleMania due to a distraction from MVP. Braun Strowman and Randy Orton then interrupted and stated their respective cases to challenge for the title; Orton's for defeating The Fiend, putting that rivalry behind him and allowing him to focus on pursuing the WWE Championship, and Strowman's for defeating Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match. WWE official Adam Pearce came out and scheduled a triple threat match between McIntyre, Strowman, and Orton with the winner facing Lashley for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania Backlash, which McIntyre won. Strowman, however, defeated McIntyre on the April 26 episode, thus he was added to the championship match, making it a triple threat match. At the event, Lashley retained. Lashley and McIntyre would have another title match at Hell in a Cell, this time as a Hell in a Cell match, where Lashley again retained. This was also McIntyre's last chance at the WWE Championship as long as Lashley was the champion, thus ending their feud.

Also on Raw, new Raw Women's Champion Rhea Ripley defended the title against Asuka in a rematch. The match ended in a no-contest after interference from a returning Charlotte Flair, who attacked Asuka. Prior to the match, Flair, who was absent from TV for the past month, returned that night after missing her first WrestleMania; she first competed at WrestleMania 32 in April 2016 and had competed at the event every year since. On the May 3 episode, another rematch between Ripley and Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash. Additionally, WWE official Sonya Deville allowed Flair a chance to present a proposal. After hearing Flair's case, Deville added Flair to the championship match to make it a triple threat match.

During a segment of "Alexa's Playground", Alexa Bliss explained her actions at WrestleMania 37. Bliss stated that, before meeting the Fiend, she had been lost, and that the Fiend had nurtured her and taught her everything he knew, however he then went away after Randy Orton burned him alive. After months of attempting to bring him back, she realized that she did not need him anymore. Bliss then introduced her new friend, a demonic looking doll named Lilly. Bray Wyatt's cheery normal-self also made his return in a "Firefly Fun House" segment. He stated it was good to be back with his true friends and he was looking forward to a new start. This would in turn be Wyatt's final appearance in WWE until he returned at Extreme Rules in October 2022, as after being absent for the next few months, he was released from his contract on July 31.

SmackDown

On the following SmackDown, Universal Champion Roman Reigns, along with Paul Heyman and Jey Uso, boasted about retaining his championship over Edge and Daniel Bryan. Reigns was then interrupted by Cesaro, who had a stare down with Reigns, and glanced at the Universal Championship. However, before Cesaro could speak, Reigns, Jey, and Heyman left the ring and departed backstage. Later backstage, Cesaro confronted Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville about facing Reigns that night, even as a non-title match. However, instead of Reigns, Cesaro faced Jey in the main event, which ended by disqualification when Seth Rollins interfered and attacked Cesaro, proclaiming that their rivalry was not over. The following week, instead of giving Cesaro a title match, Reigns gave Bryan one final opportunity at the title with the added stipulation that if Bryan lost, he would have to leave the SmackDown brand. Bryan agreed that the stipulation would be a Championship vs. Career match and it occurred on the April 30 episode, where Reigns retained. Bryan left SmackDown and WWE shortly after the match.

On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, Cesaro faced and defeated Seth Rollins in a rematch to earn a Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Backlash. Cesaro was unsuccessful in winning the title, and was attacked by Rollins after the match. They had another rematch at Hell in a Cell that Rollins won. The two had one further match on the July 9 episode of SmackDown, where Rollins again defeated Cesaro, which was also a qualifying match for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match.

After being absent since WrestleMania 37, Edge made his return to SmackDown on the June 25 episode and attacked Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso, who had since returned from injury. Edge was then granted a rematch for the Universal Championship at Money in the Bank, this time as a one-on-one match that he was originally supposed to have at WrestleMania. At the event, Reigns retained after interference from Seth Rollins, who lost the men's Money in the Bank ladder match earlier that night, and felt like Edge cut in line in front of him. This eventually led to a match between Edge and Rollins being scheduled for SummerSlam.

Also on the following episode of SmackDown, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, the latter of whom is Bianca Belair's real-life husband) threw Belair a victory party for winning the SmackDown Women's Championship. During the party, Belair thanked Sasha Banks for making history at the event. Backstage, a furious Banks was interviewed only to storm off the set. Later, Bayley declared that she would be Belair's next challenger, which was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash. After her brief appearance on the SmackDown after WrestleMania 37, Banks took time off but made her return during the July 30 episode, saving Belair from an attack by Carmella and Zelina Vega, who each wanted to challenge Belair for the title. Banks and Belair then teamed up and defeated Carmella and Vega, but after the match, Banks turned on and attacked Belair. A rematch between Banks and Belair for the title was later scheduled for SummerSlam. However, Banks was pulled from the event, and was replaced by another challenger who defeated Belair for the title. Banks and Belair would have their match on the October 1 episode of SmackDown, where Banks was victorious.

Results