Orlando, Florida, United States
Champions were crowned, the legendary Ric Flair was forced to retire, boxer Floyd Mayweather prevailed, and Undertaker extended his undefeated streak as World Wrestling Entertainment(R) set both attendance and ticket sale records at WrestleMania XXIV tonight at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
WWE(R) grossed more than $5.85 million in ticket sales, making it the highest grossing live event in WWE history and in the history of the Citrus Bowl. WWE set an attendance record for the Citrus Bowl with 74,635 fans from all 50 states, five Canadian provinces and 21 countries invading Orlando, pumping up to $30 million into the local economy. The WWE's annual pay-per-view, pop culture extravaganza is televised to more than 100 countries.
In the match billed as a showdown between the greatest fighter in the world and one of the largest athletes on Earth, undefeated WBC Welterweight Champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather barely survived against 7-foot, 441-lb. Big Show, eventually knocking him out with brass knuckles. Flair, a 16-time World Champion and 2008 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee, lost to another legendary star, Shawn Michaels, in an emotion-filled match, forcing him into retirement as one of the greatest pro wrestling stars of all-time. Undertaker defeated Edge(R) to become the new World Heavyweight Champion, extending his undefeated streak at WrestleMania to 16-0. Randy Orton(R) retained the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Triple H(R) and John Cena(R). Kane became the new ECW Champion, crushing Chavo Guerrero.
Always a star-studded event, WrestleMania XXIV featured several celebrity participants in addition to Mayweather. John Legend performed "America The Beautiful" to open the event, Snoop Dogg served as Master of Ceremonies for the BunnyMania Lumberjack Match, Kim Kardashian was a special guest hostess, and Raven-Symone played host to 50 Make-A-Wish kids being honored by WWE in its largest wish granting event ever.
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Images from WrestleMania XXIV are available on FTP:
From Windows using Internet Explorer 7:
ftp://ftp001.wwecorp.com/WM24_Press/
Enter wm24press in the username field and wm24pres$ in the password field of the ensuing dialog box.
From Windows using Internet Explorer 6:
ftp://wm24press@ftp001.wwecorp.com/WM24_Press/
Enter wm24pres$ in the password field of the ensuing dialog box.
From a Mac using an FTP client: (such as Fetch or Transmit)
Server name: ftp001.wwecorp.com
User name: wm24press
Password: wm24pres$
Directory: WM24_Press
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Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)