WrestleCon is an annual

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

fan convention A fan convention (also known as a con or fan meeting) is an event in which Fan (person), fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some also inc ...

held each spring since 2013 by Highspots, a digital professional wrestling retailer. The event features guest appearances, question-and-answer sessions, and live matches. Traditionally, WrestleCon takes place during the weekend of, and either in or near the host city of WrestleMania - the flagship event of

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

and considered the biggest wrestling event of the year.

History and organization

The inaugural WrestleCon was a collaboration between Highspots and WWNLive.com, taking place April 5–7, 2013 at the Meadowlands Expo Center in

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 census count of 16,264, which in turn reflected an in ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

during

WrestleMania 29 WrestleMania 29, also promoted as WrestleMania NY/NJ, was a 2013 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It was the 29th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New J ...

weekend. The convention included appearances by

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with the WWE, World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Sammartin ...

Paul Orndorff Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 – July 12, 2021), nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful", was an American professional wrestler and football player, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Champions ...

Demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

Tito Santana Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953), better known by the ring name Tito Santana, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Professional wrestling school, trainer, and retired school teacher. Solis has stayed a Face (profession ...

The Iron Sheik Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri (; March 15, 1942 – June 7, 2023), better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik, was an Iranian-American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. To date he is the only Iranian-born champion in WWE histor ...

and more. It also featured live wrestling from five promotions – EVOLVE,

Combat Zone Wrestling Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded in 1999 by John Zandig. Commonly associated with the 2000s hardcore wrestling genre, early CZW shows showcased a brand of wrestling dubbed by the p ...

SHIMMER Shimmer Women Athletes (often referred to and stylized as SHIMMER) was an American, Chicago-based independent women's professional wrestling promotion which held its first event on November 6, 2005. Established by Dave Prazak and run by both him ...

, CHIKARA, and

Dragon Gate USA Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) is an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2009 as an international expansion of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. Gabe Sapolsky, former head booker of Ring of Honor, served as the promotion's Vice Presi ...

. In 2014, WrestleCon emanated from The Sugar Mill in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and featured appearances by

Bill Goldberg William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known Mononymous person, mononymously as Goldberg, is an American professional wrestler, actor and former American football defensive tackle. He is signed to WWE. He is best known for his ten ...

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the Wo ...

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

, and

Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...

and

Jim Neidhart James Henry Neidhart (February 8, 1955 – August 13, 2018) was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag ...

together as the

Hart Foundation The Hart Foundation is the name of several derivative tag teams and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Stable, stables composed primarily of members and close friends of the Hart wrestling family. The name originated in the World Wrestling ...

. WWNLive and its affiliated promotions did not participate in WrestleCon in 2014, with the live wrestling portion of the convention being the inaugural WrestleCon Supershow headlined by

Kevin Steen Kevin Yanick Steen (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Kevin Owens. As of A ...

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he both wrestles and serves as Director of Business Development. He is also ...

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same ...

Chris Hero William Christopher Spradlin (born December 24, 1979), better known by his ring name Chris Hero, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer. Hero has worked for a number of indepen ...

Drew Gulak Drew Gulak (born April 28, 1987) is an American professional wrestler currently performing on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a former one-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion and eight-time WWE 24/7 Ch ...

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

, The Suck Me Crew and more. Beginning in 2018, the annual WrestleCon Supershow was rechristened the Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow in honor of Mark Hitchcock, an artist and wrestling fan who assisted in DVD production for Highspots Originally scheduled for April 2–5, the 2020 event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Due to the lingering pandemic, WrestleCon was not held in 2021. It returned in 2022 during

WrestleMania 38 WrestleMania 38 was a 2022 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by WWE. It was the 38th annual WrestleMania and took place as a two-night event on Saturda ...

weekend. In 2022, Impact Wrestling, since reverted to its past branding as

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

, began promoting events as part of WrestleCon, partnering with different promotions to produce "Multiverse" shows.

Other events held as part of WrestleCon

2013

Supershow events

References

External links