Proving that WWE is on its hottest streak to date, it's been confirmed today that WWE has entered a first-of-its-kind deal with the state of Indiana, starting with next year's Royal Rumble.
For the first time ever, that show will take place in February. Indianapolis has also netted a future WrestleMania and SummerSlam, with both set to take place over two nights (seemingly confirming that will be the norm for the latter moving forward).
As of now, it hasn't been confirmed when either of those PLEs will take place, though SummerSlam 2026 is going to hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota. That came after they lost next year's WrestleMania to Las Vegas.
There's also no word on when or where SummerSlam 2025 is going to hail from, though there's talk of London, England being a frontrunner (which would overshadow AEW All In).
Check out the announcement video and press release below.
STAMFORD, Conn. & INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 24, 2024 – WWE and Indiana Sports Corp today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership that will bring WWE’s three largest stadium events – WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble – to Indianapolis.
Kicking off with Royal Rumble on February 1, 2025, Lucas Oil Stadium will host all three Premium Live Events including a two-night SummerSlam and two-night WrestleMania in future years.
Additionally, Raw, SmackDown, NXT and WWE Live Events will emanate from arenas across Indiana, including Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville throughout the partnership.
"We are excited to bring this groundbreaking partnership to Indianapolis and our state," said Patrick Talty, President of Indiana Sports Corp. "For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage. This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our community and state and showing them all that Indy has to offer."
"Indianapolis is a fantastic city for major events and we’re excited to invite the WWE Universe to Lucas Oil Stadium for Royal Rumble in 2025, and a future SummerSlam and WrestleMania," said Chris Legentil, WWE EVP, Talent Relations & Head of Communications at WWE. "Patrick and the team at Indiana Sports Corp have done a phenomenal job bolstering local economics and tourism, and we’re proud to partner with them to shine a light on the great state of Indiana."
WWE and Indiana Sports Corp will also work with community partners across the state to create a legacy program that will leave an impact well beyond the three Premium Live Events. More details will be announced at a later date.
WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble have a combined economic impact of more than $300 million, as the events bring hundreds of thousands of people into the host city from all 50 states and dozens of countries throughout the world. To date in 2024, WrestleMania and Royal Rumble set all-time WWE records for viewership, gate, sponsorship, merchandise and social media.
Since its inception in 1979, Indiana Sports Corp has hosted more than 500 national and international sporting events, including Super Bowl XLVI, the College Football Playoff National Championship, Men’s & Women’s NCAA Final Fours and 11 Big Ten Football Championship Games. In total, these events have led to more than $4 billion in direct spending in the community.
WWE programming is broadcast approximately 165 countries in 25 languages. On social media, WWE has more than 365 million followers, trends on X 52 weeks a year, has more than 100 million subscribers on YouTube, and has more followers on TikTok than any U.S. sports league.