WrestleMania Main Events: Every Headliner From 1985 to 2026
Hogan and Mr. T at the Garden, a 60-minute Iron Man in Anaheim, Becky Lynch at MetLife and Roman Reigns beating CM Punk in Las Vegas: all 49 matches that closed a WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 42 ended on April 19, 2026 at Allegiant Stadium outside Las Vegas, with Roman Reigns spearing CM Punk twice to win the World Heavyweight Championship. That was the 49th match to close a WrestleMania. The count runs ahead of the event number because WWE has split the show over two nights every year since 2020, and each night gets its own main event.
Here they are in order, era by era, followed by the full list in one table and the records that fall out of it.
The Hogan years, 1985 to 1992
The first WrestleMania was held at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T beat Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, with Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson working as special referees. No other tag team match closed the show for 38 years.
WrestleMania 2 tried something WWE never repeated. It ran on a Monday, April 7, 1986, from three arenas one after another: Uniondale on Long Island, Rosemont outside Chicago and finally Los Angeles, where Hogan kept the WWF Championship against King Kong Bundy in a steel cage.
The Pontiac Silverdome hosted WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, and that main event is the one most fans can still picture: Hogan slamming André the Giant and keeping the title. In Atlantic City a year later the championship was vacant, so WWF held a 14-man tournament on the show, and Randy Savage beat Ted DiBiase in the final. Hogan stood in Savage's corner that night, the first WrestleMania where he was not one of the two men in the main event. When they met for the title in Atlantic City in 1989, Hogan won.
Hogan closed the next three as well. He lost to the Ultimate Warrior at the SkyDome in Toronto in 1990, in a match where both of their titles were on the line. In Los Angeles in 1991 he took the championship from Sgt. Slaughter, who was being presented as an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War. At the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis in 1992 he beat Sid Justice by disqualification after Harvey Wippleman interfered.
From Caesars Palace to the Attitude Era, 1993 to 1999
WrestleMania IX, held at Caesars Palace on April 4, 1993, was the first held outdoors, and its finish is still the strangest of the lot. Yokozuna beat Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. Hogan, who had lost a tag team match earlier in the evening, then came out and won the title from Yokozuna in an unadvertised match that lasted 22 seconds.
Hart got it back at Madison Square Garden in 1994. He and Lex Luger had been named co-winners of the Royal Rumble, so both got a shot at Yokozuna on the same card. Luger went first and was disqualified, and Hart won the title later in the night with Roddy Piper as the special referee. Hogan was not on that show at all.
In Hartford in 1995 the last match was Lawrence Taylor, the retired NFL linebacker, against Bam Bam Bigelow, and Taylor won. Then came the hour in Anaheim on March 31, 1996: Hart and Shawn Michaels went 60 minutes in an Iron Man match without either man scoring a fall. Hart started to leave with his belt, the match was restarted under sudden death rules, and Michaels hit Sweet Chin Music twice to become champion.
The Undertaker beat Sycho Sid for the title at Rosemont in 1997 after Hart interfered. In Boston in 1998, Steve Austin won his first WWF Championship from Michaels, with Mike Tyson as the outside enforcer. Michaels wrestled that night through an injury from the Royal Rumble and, as we noted in our list of injuries that came at the worst time, did not compete again until 2002. Austin then took the title from The Rock in Philadelphia in 1999 in a no disqualification match refereed by Mankind.
Four-ways and stadiums, 2000 to 2009
The 2000 show in Anaheim ended with a four-way elimination match, and Triple H kept the championship by eliminating The Rock last. No heel had won the main event of WrestleMania before. At the Astrodome in Houston a year later, Austin beat The Rock again in a no disqualification match after Vince McMahon came down to help him.
Most people remember The Rock against Hollywood Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania X8 in Toronto in 2002, but it was not the last match of the night. Triple H closed the show by winning the Undisputed WWF Championship from Chris Jericho. At Safeco Field in Seattle in 2003, Brock Lesnar beat Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship.
Chris Benoit made Triple H submit to the Crippler Crossface at Madison Square Garden in 2004, with Michaels as the third man in the match, to win the only world title he ever held in WWE. Batista took the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H at the Staples Center in 2005. John Cena closed the next two, making Triple H tap at Rosemont in 2006 and beating Michaels at Ford Field in Detroit in 2007. The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando in 2008, and Triple H kept the WWE Championship against Randy Orton at Reliant Stadium in Houston in 2009.
The Streak, The Rock and a women's main event, 2010 to 2019
On March 28, 2010, in Glendale, Arizona, the Undertaker's unbeaten WrestleMania record was put up against Michaels's career. The Undertaker won, the streak went to 18 and Michaels retired. It was also the first WrestleMania since 1995 to end with no title at stake.
The Miz kept the WWE Championship against Cena at the Georgia Dome in 2011 with help from The Rock, and that set up Rock against Cena at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens a year later, a match WWE had advertised twelve months ahead. The Rock won it. They wrestled again in the main event at MetLife Stadium in 2013, and Cena won his 11th WWE Championship.
Daniel Bryan wrestled twice at the Superdome in 2014. He beat Triple H in the opening match to earn his place in the main event, and then beat Orton and Batista for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. At Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2015, Seth Rollins cashed in the Money in the Bank contract he had won the summer before, in the middle of Lesnar against Roman Reigns, and pinned Reigns for the title.
Reigns was back in the main event for each of the next three years. He beat Triple H for the title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in 2016, and beat the Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match in Orlando in 2017, only the second WrestleMania loss of the Undertaker's career. Lesnar beat him in a Universal Championship match at the Superdome in 2018 that was heavily criticized.
Women headlined for the first time at MetLife Stadium on April 7, 2019. Becky Lynch beat Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair to leave with both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships.
Two nights a year, 2020 to 2026
The pandemic moved WrestleMania 36 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, with no audience. It was taped on March 25 and 26 and aired on April 4 and 5, 2020. Night 1 ended with the Undertaker's Boneyard match against AJ Styles, filmed on location away from the building, and it turned out to be his last match. On Night 2 Drew McIntyre beat Lesnar for the WWE Championship.
Fans returned in Tampa in April 2021, with capacity limited to about 25,000 a night. Bianca Belair beat Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women's Championship on Night 1, the first time two African American wrestlers headlined WrestleMania, and Reigns kept the Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan on Night 2.
At AT&T Stadium in 2022, Steve Austin had his first match since 2003, an impromptu No Holds Barred win over Kevin Owens to close Night 1. It was the last match of his career. Reigns beat Lesnar the following night to hold the WWE and Universal Championships together.
Owens and Sami Zayn won the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship from The Usos at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California in 2023, ending a 622-day reign in the first tag title match to close a WrestleMania. Reigns beat Cody Rhodes on Night 2. Rhodes finished that story at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in 2024: The Rock and Reigns beat him and Rollins on Night 1, which made the next night's title match a Bloodline Rules match, and Rhodes won it anyway.
Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in 2025 ended with Rollins beating Reigns and Punk after Paul Heyman turned on both of them. Punk had never been in a WrestleMania main event before. Cena beat Rhodes on Night 2 for the Undisputed WWE Championship, his record 17th world title.
WrestleMania 42 had been awarded to New Orleans, but WWE moved it back to Allegiant Stadium and a week later in the calendar, to April 18 and 19, 2026. It was the first WrestleMania to air live on ESPN in the United States. Rhodes kept the Undisputed WWE Championship against Orton on Night 1 after Orton hit an RKO on Pat McAfee, who had come out in his corner. Reigns won the World Heavyweight Championship from Punk to close Night 2.
Every WrestleMania main event
| Event | Venue | Main event | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| I (1985) | Madison Square Garden, New York | Hogan and Mr. T vs. Piper and Orndorff | Hogan and Mr. T |
| 2 (1986) | Sports Arena, Los Angeles | Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy, cage | Hogan |
| III (1987) | Silverdome, Pontiac, Mich. | Hogan vs. André the Giant | Hogan |
| IV (1988) | Atlantic City, N.J. | Savage vs. DiBiase, tournament final | Savage |
| V (1989) | Atlantic City, N.J. | Savage vs. Hogan | Hogan |
| VI (1990) | SkyDome, Toronto | Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior | Ultimate Warrior |
| VII (1991) | Sports Arena, Los Angeles | Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hogan | Hogan |
| VIII (1992) | Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis | Hogan vs. Sid Justice | Hogan (DQ) |
| IX (1993) | Caesars Palace, Las Vegas | Hart vs. Yokozuna, then Yokozuna vs. Hogan | Yokozuna, then Hogan |
| X (1994) | Madison Square Garden, New York | Yokozuna vs. Hart | Hart |
| XI (1995) | Civic Center, Hartford, Conn. | Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor | Taylor |
| XII (1996) | Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim | Hart vs. Michaels, Iron Man | Michaels |
| 13 (1997) | Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Ill. | Sycho Sid vs. Undertaker | Undertaker |
| XIV (1998) | FleetCenter, Boston | Michaels vs. Austin | Austin |
| XV (1999) | First Union Center, Philadelphia | The Rock vs. Austin | Austin |
| 2000 | Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim | Triple H vs. Rock vs. Big Show vs. Foley | Triple H |
| X-Seven (2001) | Astrodome, Houston | The Rock vs. Austin | Austin |
| X8 (2002) | SkyDome, Toronto | Jericho vs. Triple H | Triple H |
| XIX (2003) | Safeco Field, Seattle | Angle vs. Lesnar | Lesnar |
| XX (2004) | Madison Square Garden, New York | Triple H vs. Benoit vs. Michaels | Benoit |
| 21 (2005) | Staples Center, Los Angeles | Triple H vs. Batista | Batista |
| 22 (2006) | Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill. | Cena vs. Triple H | Cena |
| 23 (2007) | Ford Field, Detroit | Cena vs. Michaels | Cena |
| XXIV (2008) | Citrus Bowl, Orlando | Edge vs. Undertaker | Undertaker |
| 25 (2009) | Reliant Stadium, Houston | Triple H vs. Orton | Triple H |
| XXVI (2010) | University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. | Undertaker vs. Michaels | Undertaker |
| XXVII (2011) | Georgia Dome, Atlanta | The Miz vs. Cena | The Miz |
| XXVIII (2012) | Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Fla. | Cena vs. The Rock | The Rock |
| 29 (2013) | MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. | The Rock vs. Cena | Cena |
| XXX (2014) | Superdome, New Orleans | Orton vs. Batista vs. Bryan | Daniel Bryan |
| 31 (2015) | Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif. | Lesnar vs. Reigns vs. Rollins | Rollins |
| 32 (2016) | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas | Triple H vs. Reigns | Reigns |
| 33 (2017) | Camping World Stadium, Orlando | Undertaker vs. Reigns | Reigns |
| 34 (2018) | Superdome, New Orleans | Lesnar vs. Reigns | Lesnar |
| 35 (2019) | MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. | Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch | Lynch |
| 36, Night 1 (2020) | Performance Center, Orlando | Undertaker vs. AJ Styles, Boneyard | Undertaker |
| 36, Night 2 (2020) | Performance Center, Orlando | Lesnar vs. McIntyre | McIntyre |
| 37, Night 1 (2021) | Raymond James Stadium, Tampa | Banks vs. Belair | Belair |
| 37, Night 2 (2021) | Raymond James Stadium, Tampa | Reigns vs. Edge vs. Bryan | Reigns |
| 38, Night 1 (2022) | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas | Owens vs. Austin | Austin |
| 38, Night 2 (2022) | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas | Lesnar vs. Reigns | Reigns |
| 39, Night 1 (2023) | SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif. | The Usos vs. Owens and Zayn | Owens and Zayn |
| 39, Night 2 (2023) | SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif. | Reigns vs. Rhodes | Reigns |
| XL, Night 1 (2024) | Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia | Rock and Reigns vs. Rhodes and Rollins | Rock and Reigns |
| XL, Night 2 (2024) | Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia | Reigns vs. Rhodes | Rhodes |
| 41, Night 1 (2025) | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas | Reigns vs. Punk vs. Rollins | Rollins |
| 41, Night 2 (2025) | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas | Rhodes vs. Cena | Cena |
| 42, Night 1 (2026) | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas | Rhodes vs. Orton | Rhodes |
| 42, Night 2 (2026) | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas | Punk vs. Reigns | Reigns |
Records and firsts
Counting each night separately, Reigns has been in the final match of 11 WrestleManias, every one of them between 2015 and 2026. Hogan closed eight, all in the first nine years, and Triple H seven. Cena and The Rock have six each. Reigns and Lesnar shared the last match three times, in 2015, 2018 and 2022.
The Hart and Michaels hour in 1996 was the first Iron Man match WWE ever put on television, and it took until 2023 for a tag team title match to close a WrestleMania. The Undertaker's streak, which survived three main events, was finally ended by Lesnar in 2014 in a match that did not close the show, one of the moments in our piece on five modern moments that changed wrestling.
WrestleMania 43 is set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2027. It will be the first held outside North America, and the first outside the United States since X8 at the SkyDome in 2002.
Questions
Who was in the main event of the first WrestleMania?
Hulk Hogan and Mr. T beat Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985, with Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson as special referees.
When did women first main event WrestleMania?
At WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium on April 7, 2019. Becky Lynch beat Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat to win the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships.
Who has main evented WrestleMania the most times?
Roman Reigns, who has been in the last match on 11 WrestleMania nights between 2015 and 2026, counting each night of the two-night shows. Hulk Hogan is next with eight, then Triple H with seven.
What were the main events of WrestleMania 42?
On Night 1, April 18, 2026, Cody Rhodes beat Randy Orton to keep the Undisputed WWE Championship. On Night 2, April 19, Roman Reigns beat CM Punk to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Both nights were at Allegiant Stadium outside Las Vegas.
Where is WrestleMania 43?
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2027. It will be the first WrestleMania held outside North America.
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