TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro is setting big expectations for WWE’s upcoming Wrestlepalooza premium live event, revealing that the company hopes to make it an “annual recurring franchise” alongside the biggest shows on the WWE calendar.
Speaking at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, Shapiro highlighted the September 20 event as a potential cornerstone for WWE’s future. “Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner and we can bring that back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right.”
Shapiro added that WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque is working tirelessly on the creative direction for the debut event: “He’s spending day and night making what we think it can be: another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam.”
While Shapiro sees Wrestlepalooza as eventually reaching the level of WWE’s tentpole events, he placed it in the same “quadrant” as the Royal Rumble, just below WrestleMania and SummerSlam in stature.
The inaugural Wrestlepalooza will take place on Saturday, September 20, in Indianapolis, Indiana, marking WWE’s first premium live event to stream on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer platform. The deal was originally scheduled to begin in 2026 but has been moved up.
The event will also partially go head-to-head with AEW’s All Out pay-per-view, making it a clear case of counter-programming.
The card is already shaping up to be massive, with expected matches including: John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (first-time-ever singles match), CM Punk & AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch (mixed tag team match), and additional bouts, including a match to crown a new Women’s World Champion.
Mark Shapiro talks site fees. pic.twitter.com/LC5GHNPOgm
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) September 10, 2025
