Press Release: WrestleMania Takes Over New York & New Jersey
WWE issued the following:
WRESTLEMANIA® TAKES OVER NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
STAMFORD, Conn., April 1, 2013 ? Fans from all 50 states and more than 30 countries will converge on the New York/New Jersey region for a week-long lineup of festivities in celebration of WrestleMania 29, taking place this Sunday, April 7 live on pay-per-view at 7 PM ET from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. WWE® will take over New York and New Jersey beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2 with the following events:
Empire State Building Lighting Photo Op ? Tuesday, April 2, New York, NY
WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Alberto del Rio, and his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, will pose for photos on the Empire State Building's world-famous 86th floor Observatory. On Sunday, April 7, the exterior lights of the Empire State Building, above the 72nd floor, will be lit in the WrestleMania logo colors of blue and yellow, starting at sunset through 2 AM ET the next day in honor of WrestleMania 29 which airs live on pay-per-view at 7 PM ET from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
Military Meet & Greet ? Wednesday, April 3, Lexington Avenue Armory
WWE will hold a meet and greet reception for NY National Guard First Responders to 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. WWE Superstars and Divas will participate in the event, sign autographs and take photos.
Children's Hospital Visits ? Wednesday, April 3
WWE Superstars, along with Elvis Duran, from Z-100's Elvis Duran show, will visit St. Mary's Hospital in Bayside. Also on Wednesday April 3, WWE Superstars and Divas will visit with patients at New York Presbyterian, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in New York City. On the other side of the Hudson River, WWE will visit children at Hackensack University Medical Center's Don Imus Building and Goryeb Children's Hospital at Morristown Medical Center.
WrestleMania 29 Press Conference ? Thursday, April 4, Radio City Music Hall
Days before Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson defends the WWE Championship against John Cena at WrestleMania 29, the two celebrated icons will come face-to-face at Radio City Music Hall. The WrestleMania headliners will be joined by the biggest names in WWE to offer a preview of this year's event. The press conference will also be streamed live on wwe.com, YouTube and Facebook.
Superstars for Sandy Relief ? Thursday, April 4, Cipriani Wall Street
Entertainment powerhouse Sean "Diddy" Combs will co-host a Superstars for Sandy Relief (#STARS4SANDY) party with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and special guest Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at Cipriani Wall Street. On March 25, WWE kicked off the largest ever global online auction to benefit Hurricane Sandy Relief efforts in New York and New Jersey at www.Charitybuzz.com/WWE. The auction features unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences with WWE Superstars and other international sports and entertainment celebrities. During the Superstars for Sandy Relief party, a live auction will be led by sportscaster Joe Buck, where more incredible experiences will be made available for bidding. All proceeds will go to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.
Be a STAR Anti-Bullying Rallies ? Thursday, April 4 and Friday April, 5
Be a STAR (Show Tolerance and Respect) was co-founded by The Creative Coalition and WWE in April 2011. WWE and The Creative Coalition will host anti-bullying rallies at New York and New Jersey schools. WWE will visit I.S. 51 Edwin Markham in Staten Island and Elliott School in Newark, NJ to deliver anti-bullying messages to more than 500 students. Also for the first time ever, WWE will host a Be a STAR rally at WrestleMania Axxess on Friday, April 5 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ. Students from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Manhattan and New Jersey will participate in the rally and attend WrestleMania Axxess.
WrestleMania Axxess ? Thursday, April 4 ? Sunday, April 7, IZOD Center
Get ready for a brand-new WWE fan experience when WrestleMania Axxess (#AXXESS) takes over IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., from Thursday, April 4, to Sunday, April 7. This will be the first time in its history Axxess will be held inside an arena, giving fans the opportunity to see the full RAW stage on display during the event. This year, the WWE Universe will get unprecedented access to meet their favorite WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends, with more matches than ever before and interactive activities all throughout the arena.
NYSE Closing Bell ? Friday, April 5 ? New York, NY
WWE Superstar John Cena will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange in recognition of WrestleMania 29 which airs live on pay-per-view from MetLife Stadium on Sunday, April 7 at 7PM ET. John Cena will be accompanied by executives from Susan G. Komen for the Cure and breast cancer survivors. Under Cena's leadership, WWE worked to help raise $1 million dollars for breast cancer research and create awareness about the importance of early detection during breast cancer awareness month this past October.
WrestleMania Reading Challenge ? Friday April, 5 and Saturday, April 6
On Friday, April 5, WWE, Pearson Foundation and We Give Books will host a reading celebration with students at Thomas G. Connors Elementary School in Hoboken, NJ. In addition to the reading celebration, the school will be the recipient of a book grant from the Pearson Foundation. As part of the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, a new digital reading platform was created this year in partnership with We Give Books. More than 25,000 students participated, reading over 110,000 books.
The eighth annual WrestleMania Reading Challenge Finals will take place on Saturday, April 6 in the Aronow Theater at City College in New York City. More than 1,000 libraries from across the United States and Canada participated in this year's WrestleMania Reading Challenge through the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. Eighteen finalists will compete to win ringside seats to WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, April 7 at 7 PM ET.
Make-A-Wish Pizza Party ? Saturday, April 6, Liberty Science Center
WWE Superstars John Cena, Santino Marella and R-Truth will host this year's annual Make-A-Wish pizza party for more than 40 wish kids and their families from the United States, Belgium and Australia. As part of its 30-year partnership with Make-A-Wish, WWE is also hosting the wish children and their families at WrestleMania 29. This year's pizza party will also help launch Make-A-Wish's World Wish Day campaign to raise airline tickets, a critical wish resource, through cash and airline mile contributions during the month of April.
WWE 2013 Hall of Fame Ceremony, Saturday, April 6, Madison Square Garden
A capacity crowd will fill Madison Square Garden for the 2013 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (#WWEHOF). WWE Superstars and global celebrities will pay tribute to icons of the past including Bruno Sammartino, who will be inducted by Arnold Schwarzenegger; Bob Backlund, who will be inducted by Maria Menounos, Donald Trump, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus and Booker T.
Empire State Building Lighting, Sunday, April 7, New York, NY
In celebration of WrestleMania 29, the exterior lights of the Empire State Building, above the 72nd floor, will be lit in the WrestleMania logo colors of blue and yellow, starting at sunset through 2:00 AM ET the next day.
WrestleMania 29, Sunday, April 7, MetLife Stadium
More than 75,000 fans are expected to converge on MetLife Stadium for WrestleMania 29 (#WRESTLEMANIA). This year's pop-culture extravaganza, which can be seen live on pay-per-view at 7 PM ET in more than 100 countries and 20 languages, will feature the highly anticipated re-match between The Rock and John Cena for the WWE Championship. The pay-per-view is available through cable, satellite or telco providers and on Xbox consoles and Samsung Smart TVs, inside "Xbox Live" and the Samsung "Smart Hub" respectively.