NEWS

WWE® TAKES OVER NEW ORLEANS FOR WRESTLEMANIA® WEEK

STAMFORD Conn. April 2 2018 – Fans from around the world will descend upon New Orleans for a week-long lineup of festivities in celebration of WrestleMania taking place in front of a capacity crowd at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and streaming live on WWE Network at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT on Sunday April 8. WWE will also host more than a dozen community outreach events designed to give back to the local region. WrestleMania Week begins today and includes the following events:

  • New York Stock Exchange Opening Bell (NYSE) – Monday April 2

WWE Superstar Big Show® will ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange to officially kick off WrestleMania Week.

  • Veteran Employment Panel & Networking Event – Tuesday April 3 The National World     War II Museum

WWE The National World War II Museum and the City of New Orleans will host a Veteran Employment Panel and Networking Event in support of Hire Heroes USA giving nearly 150 veterans an opportunity to receive one-on-one career coaching and then network with key employers from the New Orleans area including Merrill Lynch Hyatt Regency Starbucks and many more.  

In addition WWE Superstar Mark Henry® NXT® Superstars and military veterans Lacey Evans™ Montez Ford™ and Steve Cutler™ and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior™ will be on-site to meet the attendees.

  • Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Visit – Tuesday April 3 Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base

WWE Superstar Mark Henry NXT Superstars Lacey Evans Montez Ford and Steve Cutler and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior will participate in a flight stimulator demonstration and meet with military personnel at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.

  • Children’s Hospital Visit – Wednesday April 4 Ochsner Children’s Health Center

WWE Superstars Finn Bálor® Bayley® Jason Jordan™ Goldust® and Alicia Fox® and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior will visit the Ochsner Children’s Health Center to take pictures sign autographs and distribute WWE Championship toy titles to patients.

  • Community Center Visit – Wednesday April 4 Milne Recreational Center

WWE and UNICEF USA will host a UNICEF Kid Power event at the New Orleans Recreation Development (NORD) Commission’s Milne Recreational Center. Kid Power is a unique program that gets kids in the U.S. active empowers them to be global citizens and helps save the lives of malnourished children.  Kid Power can be activated through the mobile app wearable band or a variety of other programs. WWE Superstars Sheamus® Cesaro® Sasha Banks® and Mickie James™ and NXT Superstars Lacey Evans Montez Ford and Steve Cutler will participate in activities that will help save the lives of children around the world.

  • Special Olympics Unified Basketball Game – Thursday April 5 Westbank Boys and Girls Club Unit

WWE a Global partner of Special Olympics is hosting a Unified Basketball Game at the Westbank Boys and Girls Club. Unified Sports® joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Special Olympics athletes and their unified partners will participate in the game as WWE Superstars Seth Rollins® Carmella™ Alicia Fox Chad Gable® and Shelton Benjamin® NXT Superstar Velveteen Dream™ and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior will serve as honorary coaches while WWE Superstar Big Show and WWE Announcer Mike Rome will serve as announcers.

  • Susan G. Komen Luncheon – Thursday April 5 Audubon Zoo Tea Room

Susan G. Komen New Orleans will host its Perfectly Pink Salute to Survivors Luncheon at the Audubon Zoo Tea Room where breast cancer survivors will be honored. WWE Superstars Titus O’Neil Natalya Nia Jax and Dana Brooke and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior will help present grant award checks totaling $275 000 to local grantees to help women men and families in the Greater New Orleans area receive access to life-saving breast cancer screening treatment and education services.

  • WrestleMania Axxess – Thursday April 5 through Sunday April 8 Ernest N. Morial Convention Center  

WrestleMania Axxess (#AXXESS) is the ultimate fan experience. This year’s WrestleMania Axxess will take place from Thursday April 5 through Sunday April 8 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Fans will have unprecedented access to meet their favorite WWE Superstars and Legends through a host of interactive fan experiences including autograph signings and live matches.

  • Be a STAR® Bullying Prevention Rally – Friday April 6 NFL-YET Boys and Girls Club Recreation Center

WWE Superstars Apollo Dana Brooke and Carmella NXT Superstar Kassius Ohno™ and actor Christian Navarro along with representatives from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America will speak about the importance of bullying prevention to Club members. In 2016 WWE and The Boys & Girls Clubs of America launched a multi-year partnership focusing on youth development and bullying prevention efforts around Be a STAR WWE’s bullying prevention initiative (#BeaSTAR).

  • WWE 2018 Hall of Fame Ceremony Red Carpet – Friday April 6 Smoothie King Center

Maria Menounos hosts the most glamorous event on the WWE calendar. WWE Superstars and Legends and a host of celebrities walk the red carpet live on WWE Network at 7 pm ET.

  • WWE 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – Friday April 6 Smoothie King Center

Goldberg™ Mark Henry The Dudley Boyz® Jeff Jarrett™ Ivory™ Hillbilly Jim™ and Kid Rock will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (#WWEHOF) at the Smoothie King Center and live on WWE Network at 8 pm ET. In addition Jarrius “JJ” Robertson double liver transplant survivor and long-time WWE fan will receive the fourth annual Warrior Award. The WWE Hall of Fame recognizes the most-celebrated Superstars in WWE history while The Warrior Award is presented each year to an individual who has exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of WWE Hall of Famer The Ultimate Warrior®.

  • Make-A-Wish® Circle of Champions – Saturday April 7 Mardi Gras World

WWE Make-A-Wish® Mardi Gras World and River City Venues will host a Mardi Gras themed lunch for 28 Wish kids at Mardi Gras World. WWE Superstars Samoa Joe™ Natalya and Sasha Banks WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior and WWE Announcer Jojo™ will meet with the Wish kids and participate in a float parade at Mardi Gras World. There will also be a surprise appearance by a WWE Superstar who will induct the Wish kids into WWE’s Circle of Champions.

  • Kid Superstar Reveal – Saturday April 7 Ernest N. Morial Convention Center 

WWE will host patients from the Ochsner Hospital for Children Children’s Hospital of New Orleans and Tulane Lakeside Hospital for Women and Children for a Kid Superstar reveal. Hosted by WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon WWE Superstars Daniel Bryan® AJ Styles™ and Asuka™ and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior patients will unveil their WWE Superstar personas at WrestleMania Axxess in front of the WWE Universe.

  • NXT® TakeOver: New Orleans – Saturday April 7 Smoothie King Center

On the eve of WrestleMania 34 NXT TakeOver: New Orleans comes to the Smoothie King Center and live on WWE Network at 8 pm ET. NXT Champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas™ takes on Aleister Black™; Ember Moon™ defends her NXT Women’s Championship against Shayna Baszler; Adam Cole™ EC3™ Killian Dain™ Lars Sullivan™ Ricochet™ and Velveteen Dream will compete in a six-man ladder match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship; and more!

  • WrestleMania Block Party – Sunday April 8 Mercedes-Benz Superdome – Champions Square

WWE will host a WrestleMania Block Party presented by Snickers. The family-friendly event is free and open to the public and includes appearances by WWE Superstars Big Show R-Truth® and Tamina® and WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair® and Alundra Blaze™.

  • WrestleMania – Sunday April 8 Mercedes-Benz Superdome

A capacity crowd will descend upon the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for WWE’s annual pop-culture extravaganza WrestleMania (#WRESTLEMANIA) streaming live on WWE Network at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT. Ronda Rousey makes her WWE match debut alongside Kurt Angle as they take on Stephanie McMahon and Triple H®; Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon will compete against Kevin Owens® and Sami Zayn®; WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar™ will defend his title against Roman Reigns®; WWE Champion AJ Styles defends his title against Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura®; SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair® takes on the Women’s Royal Rumble winner Asuka; a Fatal Four-Way United States Championship match between current Champion Randy Orton® Rusev® Bobby Roode® and Jinder Mahal®; Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss® vs. Nia Jax; a Triple Threat Intercontinental Championship match between current Champion The Miz™ Seth Rollins and Finn Bálor; the first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal; Andre the Giant™ Memorial Battle Royal; and more!

  • Monday Night Raw® – Monday April 9 Smoothie King Center

Monday Night Raw emanates live from the Smoothie King Center at 8/7C on USA Network with the fallout from WrestleMania. The night after WrestleMania has become one of the most-anticipated events of the year and has never been short on surprises.

  • WrestleMania Reading Celebration – Tuesday April 10 J.C. Ellis Elementary School

Students at J.C. Ellis Elementary School winners of this year’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge will participate in a Reading Celebration (#WWEReads) featuring WWE Superstars The New Day and Carmella and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior. In an effort to support local literacy programs WWE and First Book are donating 20 000 books to New Orleans area schools.

  • SmackDown® Live – Tuesday April 10 Smoothie King Center

WWE caps off five consecutive nights of events in New Orleans as SmackDown Live emanates from the Smoothie King Center at 8/7C on USA Network.    

About WWE
WWE a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE) is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming pay-per-view digital media and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV-PG family-friendly programming can be seen in more than 800 million homes worldwide in 20 languages. WWE Network the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford Conn. with offices in New York Los Angeles London Mexico City Mumbai Shanghai Singapore Dubai Munich and Tokyo.

Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.   

Media Contacts:
Kimberly Angiolillo
WWE
203-609-5452
Kimberly.Angiolillo@wwecorp.com

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Forward-Looking Statements:   This press release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include without limitation risks relating to: WWE Network; major distribution agreements; our need to continue to develop creative and entertaining programs and events; a decline in the popularity of our brand of sports entertainment; the continued importance of key performers and the services of Vincent K. McMahon; possible adverse changes in the regulatory atmosphere and related private sector initiatives; the highly competitive rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented nature of the markets in which we operate and greater financial resources or marketplace presence of many of our competitors; uncertainties associated with international markets; our difficulty or inability to promote and conduct our live events and/or other businesses if we do not comply with applicable regulations; our dependence on our intellectual property rights our need to protect those rights and the risks of our infringement of others’ intellectual property rights; the complexity of our rights agreements across distribution mechanisms and geographical areas; potential substantial liability in the event of accidents or injuries occurring during our physically demanding events including without limitation claims relating to CTE; large public events as well as travel to and from such events; our feature film business; our expansion into new or complementary businesses and/or strategic investments; our computer systems and online operations; a possible decline in general economic conditions and disruption in financial markets; our accounts receivable; our revolving credit facility; litigation; our potential failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance which  could adversely affect our stock; Vincent K. McMahon exercising control over our affairs and his interests may conflict with the holders of our Class A common stock; a substantial number of shares which are eligible for sale by the McMahons and the sale or the perception of possible sales of those shares could lower our stock price; and the relatively small public “float” of our Class A common stock. In addition our dividend is dependent on a number of factors including among other things our liquidity and cash flow strategic plan (including alternative uses of capital) our financial results and condition contractual and legal restrictions on the payment of dividends (including under our revolving credit facility) general economic and competitive conditions and such other factors as our Board of Directors may consider relevant. Forward-looking statements made by the Company speak only as of the date made are subject to change without any obligation on the part of the Company to update or revise them and undue reliance should not be placed on these statements.