WWE Reportedly Pulling WrestleMania From the WWE Network

WrestleMania has been a staple of the WWE Network ever since WrestleMania XXX, but according to a [...]

WrestleMania has been a staple of the WWE Network ever since WrestleMania XXX, but according to a new report from the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer that might be about to change. WrestleMania 36 will be available via the Network along with various cable providers and streaming services like FITE TV, and Meltzer stated on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio that there's a very good chance WrestleMania 37 will be available exclusively via pay-per-view.

"I think that it's very clear that the idea is that next year's WrestleMania is not going to be on the WWE Network and it'll be on pay-per-view," Meltzer said. "That's probably the smart thing to do, so this is like a tryout.... The idea is you want to be selling at least the pay-per-view and you move your program to another platform."

Meltzer pointed out that former co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, both of whom were recently let go, were the driving forces behind convincing Vince McMahon to put WrestleMania on the Network.

"I guess after all these years he got mad about it," Meltzer said. "And also they convinced him that WrestleMania every year should be free so that way we get all these free [subscribers] and some of them will become subscribers. Vince was the one who wanted nothing less than a six month commitment, so that way everybody would get the price of a pay-per-view."

McMahon had stated during a recent financial investors conference call that WWE was looking to sell its pay-per-view streaming rights to another streaming service. However by late March that deal was reportedly dead. Meltzer said during Wednesday night's episode that he couldn't see a deal getting done with any major company "anytime soon."

WrestleMania 36 is scheduled to take place this weekend at the WWE Performance Center in front of no fans due to the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile WrestleMania 37 will occur on March 28, 2021 at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Here's the official WrestleMania 36 card as of Thursday. Matches that have reportedly been changed though haven't been confirmed by WWE are marked with a "*."

  • WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
  • WWE Universal Championship: Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns*
  • NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
  • Raw Women's Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
  • Edge vs. Randy Orton (Last Man Standing)
  • The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles (Boneyard Match
  • John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (Firefly Fun House Match)
  • SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Miz & John Morrison vs. The New Day vs. The Usos*
  • Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza and Austin Theory
  • Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
  • SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Sasha Banks vs. Naomi vs. Tamina Snuka
  • Women's Tag Team Championships: The Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
  • Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
  • Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
  • Elias vs. King Baron Corbin
  • Bobby Lashley vs. Aleister Black
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