WWE is bringing back Wrestlepalooza.
The company announced Thursday that Wrestlepalooza: Perth will take place Saturday, Dec. 12, from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia, as part of a new three-year agreement that will bring a WWE Premium Live Event to the city annually through 2028. SmackDown and Raw will also emanate from RAC Arena that weekend.
WWE described last year’s inaugural Wrestlepalooza as a “blockbuster success.” I remember it a little differently.
I covered that show extensively for Athlon Sports and called it “overhyped and underdelivered.” WWE presented Wrestlepalooza as a massive occasion, headlined by John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar and serving as the official launch of its ESPN partnership. Yet the actual event felt rushed and largely failed to match the enormous hype surrounding it.
ESPN apparently wasn’t blown away either. Its own review gave Wrestlepalooza an overall C, praising Stephanie Vaquer vs. Iyo Sky while criticizing much of the remaining card.
Wrestlepalooza Returns at an Interesting Time
The revival is particularly notable considering the questions surrounding WWE’s relationship with ESPN.
From the beginning, the WWE-ESPN partnership has sometimes felt like an awkward fit on the ground. The deal reportedly came together at the corporate level between TKO and Disney executives, while the people tasked with actually executing and covering the partnership have had to navigate an unusual marriage: ESPN is fundamentally a sports network, while WWE openly presents itself as sports entertainment. That tension became particularly visible after ESPN gave the first Wrestlepalooza a C and WWE reportedly objected to the network’s PLE letter grades.
This week brought an even bigger story when a report claimed ESPN had decided against renewing its five-year, $1.6 billion WWE agreement. ESPN strongly denied that claim, telling POST Wrestling there was “no truth” to the report.
So Wrestlepalooza is back.
Hopefully, unlike last year, the show itself lives up to the name.
