Report: Wrestlemania 33 Coming to Orlando

According to many Wrestling insiders, including WrestleZone’s Justin LaBar, WrestleMania 33 will be taking place in Orlando next year at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.

An official announcement from WWE is expected to be made very soon, possibly as soon as next week:

Lot of speculation & I just confirmation from source in #WWE—WrestleMania 33 will be in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl.

— Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) March 3, 2016

If the report is true, the Citrus Bowl will host WrestleMania for the second time ever as it hosted WrestleMania 24 back in 2008. WrestleMania 24 drew 74,365 fans which is a Citrus Bowl record and was at the time a Wrestlemania record.

The WWE has yet to make a formal announcement of the event’s location, but word is an announcement can come as soon as next week.

The city of Orlando confirmed in January it had put in a formal bid for the event, which could net more than $50 million in economic impact and pack the Citrus Bowl’s 60,000-plus seats.

It does not hurt Orlando’s chances that the city is home to many of WWE’s facilities and is home to the WWE Performance Center and the “NXT” shows at Full Sail University. That relationship nearby, alongside the Citrus Bowl’s new amenities, could have easily played a role in Central Florida landing the event or being heavily considered for it and future events.

Orlando recently hosted the WWE Royal Rumble at a sold out Amway Center in January. Back in January, Philip Rossman-Reich and I discussed the strong possibility of Orlando becoming the unofficial home for the WWE and getting more major events from WWE including WrestleMania coming to Orlando on Orlando Sports Daily Podcast in the leadup to the Royal Rumble.

Look for the WWE to have the WWE Hall o Fame show at the Amway Center the night before WrestleMania like they did in 2008 when the WWE inducted a Hall of Fame class led by Ric Flair.

The WWE will also hold a major NXT Show in town that weekend as well as WWE All-Axcess all weekend in Central Florida where fans can go and meet WWE superstars and much more.

Wrestlemania 32 is taking place at Cowboys Stadium on April 3. The WWE will be back in Orlando at the Amway Center for a non-televised house show on June 26.