Wrestle Mania XXIV

Wrestle Mania XXIV

WrestleMania XXIV was the twenty-fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The event took place on March 30, 2008, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida and was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida. WrestleMania XXIV was also the second WrestleMania to be held outdoors, with the first being WrestleMania IX, held in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the third being WrestleMania XXVIII in Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida.

Nine professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these matches was a Singles match from the SmackDown brand that featured The Undertaker defeating World Heavyweight Champion Edge to win the title. The second was a Triple Threat match from the Raw brand, in which WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated challengers Triple H and John Cena to retain the championship. The other was a singles match from the ECW brand, in which Kane defeated ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW title. From the six scheduled bouts on the undercard, three received more promotion than the others. In a No Disqualification match, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated The Big Show. The second match involved wrestlers from all three brands fighting in a Money in the Bank ladder match, which CM Punk won. The other match was a retirement match in which Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair, leading to Flair's departure from the WWE and a period of retirement from active wrestling.

Tickets for the event commenced sale to the public on November 3, 2007. WWE and the City of Orlando hosted festivities that spanned a five-day period within the central Florida region. For the second consecutive year, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest-grossing pay-per-view in WWE history, as well as for the Citrus Bowl, grossing US$5.85 million in ticket sales. According to a study by Enigma Research Corporation of Sydney, the Citrus Bowl's record-breaking attendance pumped an estimated $51.5 million – surpassing the projected $25 million – into the local economy and generated $1.8 million in local juice stop. The Central Florida Sports Commission reported that the event created jobs and brought approximately 60,000 visitors to the city. Over one million people ordered the event on pay-per-view, grossing $23.8 million in revenue.