WrestleMania 33 to air live in China
WWE issued the following on Monday announcing that WrestleMania 33 will be airing live in China, the first time a WrestleMania will air live in the country.
WrestleMania® Available Live in China for the First Time
03/27/2017 SHANGHAI & STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WWE® (NYSE: WWE) and PPTV today announced that WrestleMania will be available live in China for the first time on PPTV Sports via pay-per-view at 7:00 AM Beijing time on Monday, April 3 with a choice of Mandarin or English commentary.
PPTV customers can go to WWE.PPTV.com starting at 3:33 PM Beijing time on Thursday, March 30 to subscribe to WrestleMania for a one-time payment of RMB 30 using Alipay, WeChat or Bank Card. Subscribers will be able to stream WrestleMania live on Web iOS, Android devices and digital media players. WrestleMania will also be available for purchase on demand for 30 days after the live broadcast.
WrestleMania 33 will be held at Florida’s Orlando Citrus Bowl and will feature WWE Universal Champion Goldberg™ vs. Brock Lesnar™; WWE Champion Bray Wyatt™ vs. Randy Orton™; Raw® Women’s Champion Bayley™ vs. Charlotte Flair™ vs. Sasha Banks™ vs. Nia Jax™; Roman Reigns™ vs. The Undertaker™; and John Cena® and Nikki Bella™ vs. The Miz™ and Maryse™.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with PPTV and distribute WWE’s biggest pay-per-view event, WrestleMania, live in China for the first time,” said Jay Li, Vice President & General Manager, WWE Greater China. “In addition to watching Raw® and SmackDown® on PPTV every week, fans in China can now watch their favorite WWE Superstars compete live on the grandest stage of all, WrestleMania.”
“I am extremely excited that PPTV Sports is able to launch a sports pay-per-view event for the first time in China,” said Yicheng Lou, Vice President of PPTV Sports. “Equally exciting is the fact that we can launch this feature with WrestleMania, one of the world’s most valuable sports and entertainment events. This is a solid step towards developing the largely untapped sports pay-per-view market in China.”
WrestleMania is one of the world’s top five most valuable sports events, according to Forbes, alongside the NFL’s Super Bowl, Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup. Over the past 10 years, WrestleMania has had a cumulative economic impact of nearly $1 billion for the cities that have hosted the event.
Visit WWE.PPTV.COM or WWE China Weibo for more information.
Al Roker offered WrestleMania gig
During his appearance as a co-host on the NBC “TODAY” show on Monday morning to promote WrestleMania, John Cena invited “TODAY” host Al Roker to be a guest ring announcer for the show. It would appear that should Roker accept the gig, he would ring announce Cena’s match tagging with Nikki Bella against The Miz and Maryse.
You can view Cena offering Roker the Mania 33 gig below.