- WWE and Big 12 Conference expand partnership, bringing SmackDown to Salt Lake City.
- The collaboration includes events in Dublin, Cincinnati, Tempe, and Salt Lake City.
- WWE stars like John Cena and Cody Rhodes could feature in these events.
FRISCO, Texas — In recent years, Salt Lake City has become home to the NBA, NHL and MLS as well as pro events in golf, volleyball, rugby, lacrosse and racing.
The next chapter is coming back to the Valley: professional wrestling.
The Big 12 Conference and WWE announced an expanded partnership through the 2025 season that will bring the famed entertainment company's iconic Friday Night SmackDown brand to four host markets prior to a handful of kickoffs in the fall, including Salt Lake City.
The four markets to host the SmackDown roster that currently includes current WWE Universal champion John Cena, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, among others, are:
- Aug. 22 — 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland (before Iowa State-Kansas State at Aviva Stadium)
- Oct. 3 — Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio (before Iowa State-Cincinnati)
- Oct. 24 — Mullet Arena in Tempe, Arizona (before Houston-Arizona State)
- Oct. 31 — Delta Center in Salt Lake City (before Cincinnati-Utah)
It's the extension of a partnership between the organizations that included the Undertaker awarding the MVP championship belt after the 2023 Big 12 football championship in 2023, and Jey Uso and Sami Zayn making a repeat appearance last year.
Now they want to take the partnership closer to campus.
"There are so many of us in WWE who played college football," said Ettore Ewen, who performs under the nickname Big E in the WWE universe, during the league's football media days. "So many of us have a real fervor for college football, as well.
"I meet so many college football fans who are huge wrestling fans as well. I think there's a lot of synergy there."
Big E tabbed Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham as the Big 12 coach most likely to become a WWE Superstar, praising the 35-year-old coach's energy and enthusiasm. He also said Utah's Kyle Whittingham reminded the former Iowa defensive lineman of his old coach, Kirk Ferentz and praised the Utes' head coach of the past 21 years for the way he runs his program.
But when it came to a "Royal Rumble" style brawl involving Big 12 mascots, Ewen went with a familiar name south of Utah's campus.
"The BYU mascot is so incredibly athletic, I think I have to go there," he said. "Cosmo, yes, he's the winner."
SmackDown has been no stranger to Salt Lake City (much to chagrin of fans of WWE's other major brand, Monday Night Raw, which brought the company back to Utah for the first time in over a decade in 2020).
The weekly Friday night spot last came to the Utah capital in November with a show that featured LA Knight defending his United States title against Santos Escobar and Chelsea Green defeating Bianca Belair and Blair Davenport in a triple-threat match as part of her initial Women's U.S. championship run.
This year's event could feature Cena, who currently holds the WWE Universal championship in his final year with the company before he retires. It could also feature a number of WWE Superstars, who don't all make an appearance every night of their respective brand's airdate.
But with its multi-year partnership with the league, WWE could be coming a lot closer to the Big 12 — a league as unpredictable as Cena's final heel turn.
"What I love is the Big 12 feels like a coin flip every single year. Having Arizona State picked last last season and having this incredible year … is what I love about the Big 12," Ewen said. "You never really know who is going to win. It's a ton of fun."
