TKO President Mark Shapiro has addressed the possibility of more two-night WWE events.
Since 2020, WrestleMania has evolved into a two-night event. While the first two-night WrestleMania was conducted without any fans, the tradition has since remained, but with the fans returning the very next year.
While only ‘Mania was a two-night PLE till now, recently SummerSlam also joined in. Next year, SummerSlam 2025 is scheduled to be held over two consecutive nights. Recently, TKO President Mark Shapiro opened up on the possibility of conducting more two-night PLEs aside from WrestleMania and SummerSlam in the future.
Speaking at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference, Shapiro said:
Definitely opportunities for that. It’s all a progression, a natural evolution. WrestleMania was a big hit for us to expand. As you look at all these PLEs, depending the partner, I think there is absolutely an opportunity to advance some of them to two days. We’re in a good place with our storylines.
The way it weaves through is WrestleMania is the culmination and then a new season begins. You use Raw, SmackDown, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the PLEs to all weave a long form story around multiple storylines and characters driving that discussion and narrative. It also gives us the opportunity to launch new names and bring back names.”
H/t Fightful
Despite Shapiro’s comments on it, there are no confirmed reports on it.
TKO President Mark Shapiro Rules Out Betting Concept For WWE
In an interview with CNBC, a few weeks ago, Mark Shapiro ruled out the possibility of introducing of concept of betting into WWE due to its scripted nature and last-minute changes. He stated:
Not happening. It’s not happening. We’re scripted. Look, years ago I ran Dick Clark Productions. We had enough challenge keeping the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe winners under wraps [even] with an auditor that was there. We’re not going to be asking Triple H — Paul Levesque, who runs our creative — to keep his scripts so under wrap that we can start sports betting. It just doesn’t jive.
Scripted results of matches be locked in months ahead of time, according to people familiar with the matter. The wrestlers themselves wouldn’t know whether they were winning or losing until shortly before a match takes place, said the people.”
Recently, betting has turned out to be a major source of revenue for several sports, but Shapiro has no plans for it yet.
In other news: Charlotte Flair has been spotted training ahead of her return.
In other return news, one WWE star looks set to miss WrestleMania.