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With the first event in an eight-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. under its belt, sports tourism nonprofit Indiana Sports Corp. isn’t just basking in the praise being heaped on Indianapolis’ record-setting turn hosting the Royal Rumble on Saturday.
It’s also trying to pin down dates for other major upcoming events in the WWE’s lineup—including SummerSlam and WrestleMania. It’s something officials with the Indianapolis-based group hopes will come into clearer focus later this year.
“I think in the next six months we will start to really nail down those future dates for [premium live events] across their grid over the next several years,” Patrick Talty, president of the Indiana Sports Corp., told IBJ on Sunday. “We will start to have those conversations, and we just [discussed] it in passing last night. That’s the next thing on our collective books: to figure out those future years. We’ll sit down WWE and start to hammer that out here, probably in the next six months or so.”
Talty declined to discuss details about what years are under consideration for SummerSlam and WrestleMania, which are both flagship events that the wrestling promoter has agreed to bring to Indianapolis as part of the pair’s multi-year deal, the first of its kind between the WWE and a U.S.-based sports commission.
Three sources told IBJ that Indianapolis hopes to secure SummerSlam for either 2027 or 2029 and WrestleMania for 2032 (currently the final year of Indiana Sports Corp.’s deal with WWE), although other years might also be on the table. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because decisions have not been finalized.
The 2026 rendition of SummerSlam will be held in Minneapolis, while the location for future WrestleMania events hasn’t been made public.
Saturday’s Royal Rumble drew an event-record 70,347 attendees to Lucas Oil Stadium, according to longtime wrestler Paul Levesque, also known as Triple H, who serves as WWE’s chief creative officer. The previous record was 60,447, set during the 1997 event in San Antonio.
Levesque said the event was the highest-grossing Royal Rumble in history and provided the third-largest gate (money made off tickets) in WWE history. It was also the largest single-night event WWE has ever pulled off. Fans were in attendance from 48 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
“This has been spectacular,” said Levesque. “Our time here has been incredible. I have been to very few places that I’ve ever experienced the buzz that was in town here. … I can promise you this: If this was the trip that you wanted to take, we have a few more events coming up … [and] we very rarely do anything where we don’t surpass the last thing we did. This was an incredible event.”
Saturday night’s crowd included Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Grammy-winning rocker John Mellencamp, University of Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, YouTuber Kai Cenat and actor O’Shea Jackson Jr.
“I’m not sure how, but I promise you when we get here for the next one, it will be better than this one,” Levesque said. “And when we get here for WrestleMania, we will blow all this out of the water. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Talty, who at one time was an executive for WWE overseeing the company’s live event schedule, said both the Sports Corp. and other event organizers are “definitely enjoying the afterglow” of the Royal Rumble event before turning their attention to future calendar dates with the group—as well as the remainder of what is expected to be a busy 2025, with more than a dozen major sporting events coming through central Indiana.
He said he expects the other big WWE events will benefit from warmer weather, with potential for activity along a redesigned Georgia Street and elsewhere throughout downtown. He also applauded host committee leaders Joe Pellman and Lauren Sparkman for their roles in organizing the Rumble event.
“It was incredible,” Talty said. “I heard that time and time again from the talent and from the WWE executives, that they were blown away by how Indy showed up and welcomed them to the city. Everyone worked hard, and it was awesome.”
The Royal Rumble provided an action-packed night featuring four events: the women’s and men’s Rumbles, the tag team championship and a brutal Ladder Match. In the Rumble, 30 wrestlers—starting with two and adding another every two minutes—vied for a championship match at WrestleMania. In the Ladder Match, two wrestlers compete to climb a ladder and retrieve the WWE championship belt, suspended above the ring.
Charlotte Flair—daughter of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair—won the women’s Rumble. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes retained his title in the ladder match against Kevin Owens. #DIY retained their title in the tag team event, and Jey Uso bested the soon-to-retire John Cena in the men’s Rumble, billed as the latter’s final appearance in the event.
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