Could Their be an Indie Resurgence for WrestleMania Weekend 2027?

The biggest weekend in professional wrestling will soon need a renaissance, but can it be done?

I am going to preface this article by saying this is a long shot/fever dream/wrestling fantasy booking bananza. But hey, if All In taught us something, it is that anything is possible inside the crazy world of professional wrestling.

WrestleMania 42 will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Allegiant Stadium on April 18th and 19th, 2026. Wrestling fans have the date marked on their calendar, but also have the 2027 edition of the event in mind.

WrestleMania 43 will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WrestleMania is the main event of the weekend, but there is no shortage of other programming for the weekend. The regularly scheduled WWE live events, such as Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, as well as special events such as the Hall of Fame and WrestleMania Fan Axxess. However, the host city for WrestleMania also gets invaded by a slew of independent wrestling promotions. Although it is becoming harder and harder for independent wrestling promotions to stay afloat (that is a different story for a different article), the weekend has always meant something to fans and wrestlers alike.

With WrestleMania 43 going to Saudi Arabia, it leaves a giant gap for wrestlers and fans alike to be part of independent shows. That begs the question: Can there be an independent wrestling resurgence on WrestleMania weekend without WWE? Let’s dive into this fantasy booking fun.

Can There Be an Independent Wrestling Weekend Without WrestleMania?

An Independent Resurgence

Independent wrestling has fallen on some hard times. With All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and WWE both recruiting from the independent talent pool (moreso AEW), promotions found it harder and harder to book a card that would draw a crowd in person and over a live stream on Triller/FITE TV, Highspots. IWTV and other streaming platforms.

That, mixed with the increased cost of running shows due to nationwide inflation and AEW running independent-style wrestling on television twice a week, it is becoming more difficult for independent wrestling promotions to survive.

With all that being said, there are still plenty of independent wrestlers on the scene who are worth checking out. Check out any Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), DEFY/Progress Wrestling, Warrior Wrestling, or other regional independent wrestling promotion, and you’ll see a slew of talent that are hungry to put on a show.

The independent scene is no doubt hurting, and WrestleMania weekend is usually the marquee time for the independent wrestling scene to show the world what they have. However, with the right pieces in play, independent wrestling could have a new stage to shine on, without the biggest wrestling company in the world.

A Wrestling City

The first thing to examine is, of course, a host city. Like the saying goes in real estate, location, location, location. There are a few cities that come to mind immediately. Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and Atlanta all come to mind as possibilities. They are major metropolitan cities giving plenty of travel options for fans and wrestlers alike. They are also driving distance from many major Midwest, East Coast, and West Coast wrestling hubs, making it easier for talent to get in and travel to multiple shows.

The cities also have plenty of event spaces within close proximity of one another, and public transit/ride share options to make it easy for fans to get from place to place.

There are a couple of other options that could be viable and have a need for a large scale wrestling weekend…..

New Orleans was scheduled to host WrestleMania 42 in April of 2026 before the show was abruptly moved to Las Vegas for a second year in a row. The city has hosted WrestleMania multiple times. The town was promised another WrestleMania weekend, but it was pulled away unceremoniously.

Minneapolis had also been rumored for a Mania weekend for years after the new US Bank Stadium opened up, but it never came to fruition. They are hosting SummerSlam in 2026, which is a nice consolation, but they never got the true Mania weekend experience. Both are viable options to host a massive wrestling weekend.

A Giant WrestleCon or StarrCast

A core part of the WrestleMania weekend experience is the WrestleCon convention that features wrestler meet and greets as well as independent wrestling shows. The event draws fans attending and not attending WrestleMania, and in many ways feels like an independent version of WrestleMania Axxess.

Starrcast, on the other hand, ran alongside the inaugural All In with a full weekend of panels and wrestler meet and greets. The events tend to run around All Elite Wrestling pay-per-views and usually feature a heavy roster of AEW talent.

Although WrestleCon is more associated with WrestleMania weekend, a large convention of sorts would help add to a big independent weekend.

An All Elite Appearance?

WWE is going to be running halfway across the world for their biggest event of the year. This leaves a massive opening for AEW to build to a marquee event that could headline a massive independent wrestling weekend. We have seen this happen on a smaller scale during the promotions marquee events in Chicago, Las Vegas, and other major markets.

Assuming that Wrestlemania will have an early afternoon start time like the 2026 Royal Rumble from Saudi Arabia will, that leaves a massive opening for a traditional Saturday night pay-per-view slot.

With the right build of storylines in the ring and some marketing behind it, the show could feel like the original All In did in 2018. The feeling of excitement around independent professional wrestling and an alternative to what WWE was offering at the time. AEW owns the Ring of Honor brand, which traditionally ran the Supercard of Honor pay-per-view during WrestleMania weekend. The promotion also featured appearances from New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) wrestlers. A throwback show with legacy ROH/NJPW talent such as Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, Mark Briscoe, Jay White, Katsuyori Shibata, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, etc., would add some buzz to an otherwise cold Ring of Honor product.

These are all possibilities to headline a weekend that could re-ignite the independent professional wrestling scene, even if for just one weekend.

Can a major independent wrestling weekend happen without WWE and WrestleMania? Sound off in the comments below.

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