What is a pro wrestling city? That's a layered question.
Pro wrestling cities are known for their passionate (and loud) fan bases and, while an invested crowd is always the goal, a city's historical contributions to the industry also play a role in its inclusion as a wrestling city. We've expanded on some of the notable cities below from a WWE perspective.
New York
Madison Square Garden. 1985. WrestleMania I. If the WWE didn't deliver with its first WrestleMania event, pro wrestling would likely not be where it is today. The first WrestleMania was a rousing success, highlighted by appearances including pop culture sensation Cyndi Lauper, then New York Yankees manager Billy Martin, Muhammad Ali as a special outside guest referee and a main event that saw Hulk Hogan and Mr. T take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.
Nearly 10 years later, WrestleMania 10 delivered again from Madison Square Garden and gave us lasting memories featuring two of the most talked about WrestleMania matches of all time: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart and an iconic ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon.
Once again, about 10 years later, with the tagline, "Where it all begins ... again," Madison Square Garden hosted WrestleMania 20.
Chicago
Chicago, the home of CM Punk, is rich with WWE history.
In between WrestleMania I and WrestleMania II was The Wrestling Classic, which took place at the Rosemont Horizon. It was WWE's PLE follow-up to the first WrestleMania I. Exactly five months later, the arena carried a portion of WrestleMania II including the WWE vs. NFL Battle Royal won by Andre the Giant.
Over 25 years and two more WrestleMania events later, the city played host to Money in the Bank 2011, which featured one of the more memorable main events in WWE PLE history. The hometown hero CM Punk defeated John Cena to become WWE Champion and exited through his hometown crowd, blowing a kiss to Vince McMahon and leaving with the WWE Championship.
Philadelphia
The most recent memory in Philadelphia came in 2024 at WrestleMania XL where Cody Rhodes' journey to "Finish the Story" culminated. On Night Two of the event, Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to finally become the Undisputed WWE Champion for the first time.
Before that, Philadelphia has been known as the birthplace of "extreme" in the pro wrestling world. ECW, a cultural wrestling icon was born. In 1993, Paul Heyman took over the existing NWA-Eastern Championship Wrestling and converted it into Extreme Championship Wrestling shortly thereafter, and pro wrestling changed forever. The promotion pushed the envelope with violence and risky storylines and elevated the hardcore style of pro wrestling, a style that greatly influences much of what we see throughout the current product. "ECW" chants from the audience have been going strong for over 30 years.
Montreal
Montreal is the hometown of some great WWE performers including current United States Champion Sami Zayn and the first Intercontinental Champion, the late Pat Patterson.
From an event perspective, the city hosted one of the most controversial WWE PLEs in history: the 1997 Survivor Series, home of the Montreal Screwjob.
As WWE Champion Bret Hart prepared to depart the company for WCW, the WWE Championship would have to change hands, but Hart did not want to drop the title in his home country to his opponent Shawn Michaels. As such, Vince McMahon took matters into his own hands. While Michaels attempted to lock in Hart's Sharpshooter at the end of the main event, McMahon quickly called for the bell and awarded the match and title to Michaels: the Montreal Screwjob. This sparked one of, if not the biggest, real-life conflicts in pro wrestling history between Hart and McMahon.
Detroit
Perhaps the most famous sight in pro wrestling history occurred in the Pontiac Silverdome on March 29, 1987, at WrestleMania III. With over 93,000 fans in attendance and fresh off a heel turn by Andre the Giant, the first WWE Hall of Famer challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship.
What followed was the most impactful body slam the pro wrestling business had seen or will ever see again: Hogan body-slammed Andre and followed it up with his patented leg drop to retain the title.
Just over 21 years later at Ford Field, the Detroit metropolitan area hosted WrestleMania 23, which featured a memorable main event of its own as John Cena battled Shawn Michaels.
Toronto
Hulk Hogan vs. the Ultimate Warrior. Need I say more? Personally, this was one of my most vivid childhood memories as my family and I watched the WrestleMania VI main event, which took place at the (now) Rogers Centre.
Nearly 12 years later, the WrestleMania moment of all WrestleMania moments occurred at the same venue at WrestleMania 18 when Hogan and The Rock stood in the middle of the ring and absorbed one of the most intoxicating fan responses ever seen at a WWE event.
London
According to many, the greatest Intercontinental Championship match of all time took place at Wembley Stadium in 1992. In the SummerSlam main event, Bret Hart and the British Bulldog delivered an absolute classic.
Since then, London has hosted multiple WWE PLE events, most recently in 2023 from the O2 Arena with Money in the Bank. That show featured two excellent Money in the Bank Ladder matches and a memorable main event featuring the Bloodline.
Orlando, Florida
Home of the WWE's Performance Center and the majority of its NXT events, Orlando is an important city with regard to the current product on WWE TV. NXT began as a developmental brand -- and it still is -- but the top-tier storylines and performances have turned it into a brand of its own.
In addition to that, Orlando hosted three WrestleMania events including the COVID-era WrestleMania 36 from the aforementioned Performance Center. The other two took place at Camping World Stadium (formerly the Florida Citrus Bowl).
Los Angeles
Also a part of WrestleMania II, Los Angeles hosted three different WrestleMania events, most recently WrestleMania 21.
WrestleMania 21 was chock-full of WWE history: John Cena won his first WWE Championship, Batista won his first World Championship, the inaugural Money in the Bank Ladder match took place, and a classic bout between the great Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle stole the show.
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