What TKO president told Nick Khan about WrestleMania 42 that was ‘maybe’ a mistake

WWE returning to Las Vegas for WrestleMania 42 explained by Mark Shapiro

WrestleMania 41 was held in Paradise, Nevada at the Allegiant Stadium. Night 1 of that event is said to have sold 58,538 tickets, with 60,103 in attendance for Night 2.

However, despite returning to the same stadium a year later, it is estimated that WWE only sold 50,816 for Night 1 this year and 55,256 for Sunday evening’s action.

Now, when speaking to Yahoo Finance, Shapiro has said he told WWE chief Nick Khan that the company had ‘got to go back to Vegas next year’, while admitting that was ‘maybe’ a mistake.

He said: “Maybe it’s a mistake I made because Vegas was so huge last year and such a winner for our fans and the product, that I said to Nick Khan, who runs the WWE, ‘we’ve got to go back to Vegas next year’.

“‘We have to move New Orleans down the road, and we’ve got to come back to Vegas’. Las Vegas, I don’t need to tell you, is the mecca for great events. More and more events are moving there.

However, he went on to add that: “So absolutely no regrets on going back there [to Vegas], but the only reason you’re hearing ‘hey, it’s not what it was from last year,’ is we’re not benefiting from the first mover experience.”

WWE’s future plans for WrestleMania

While it’s still around 11 months away, the location of WrestleMania 43 has already been announced.

It will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, over two nights. But owing to the time difference, it is likely to have a much earlier start time for North American fans.

Further down the line, though an exact year or date has not been named yet, the Indiana Sports Corp has previously confirmed that Indianapolis will host a two-night Mania at some point.

And as Shapiro mentioned in his interview, there will be an event in New Orleans as well.