After previously looking at the history and evolution of the logos for SummerSlam and Royal Rumble, it’s only natural to take a look at WrestleMania next.
No. This is not an April Fool’s joke. There are actually some interesting things to look at when talking about a logo that has only been tweaked over the years, rather than undergoing massive redesigns.
With 37 of these logos to look at, let’s dive right into it with the one that started it all:
This is the foundational logo that has stood the test of time. Elements of it have changed, but the general concept remains the same, with the W and M capitalized and having the bars on the sides with “restle/ania” between. Obviously, things like the WWF logo have been altered and we’d actually even see a different font once in a while.
WrestleMania 2 is a strange logo. It’s the same as the previous year, without the purple background and with a 2 behind it. However, I’ve always been curious why there are 4 lines for the 2, rather than either 2 or 3. To me, it makes more sense to go with 2 just because that’s the number of the event, but 3 would have also worked, as it took place in 3 different markets in a simulcast.
Also strange was how WWE abandoned this numeric style and decided to go with Roman numerals the next year and for a long while going forward:
The first logo, without the purple background, simply had III attached to it. I assume they decided to go with it being on the right rather than behind it like the 2 in WrestleMania 2 because it aligned with the bars of the W and M.
This was repeated with WrestleMania IV and onward for several years, with the next real variant coming with WrestleMania VII and VIII:
Both 7 and 8 (above) have a warp to them with the number underneath. They’re essentially the same as what we’ve seen before, even down to the purple outer glow, but someone found a warp tool on their editing software and decided to give it some flair. Thankfully, they didn’t just emboss everything.
WrestleMania IX goes back to a straight logo, but adds some extra adornments to go with the location of Caesars Palace:
This was the first time of what would become a regular deal with the location having some sort of influence over the logo. We’ll come back to that.
Whoever was fond of the warp function decided to go even crazier with WrestleMania X, giving it an appearance of almost a waving flag. Personally, I like the X behind it, but I’m not at all a fan of the warped text.
WrestleMania XI went for a different sort of effect on the perspective side of things and decided to abandon the more traditional gold and silver color scheme for a straight-up black on top of the purple. Chances are, you don’t remember this logo, or most of this card outside of the main events:
Then, WWE decided to be bold. With WrestleMania XII in Anaheim, they played off the 20th Century Fox logo for a more Hollywood feel. I can’t look at this logo and not have that theme stuck in my head:
WWE abandoned the Roman numerals for WrestleMania 13. While I think XIII would have worked fine, The Undertaker in the main event and the idea of the unlucky number 13 makes sense to me. The branding itself, though, is rather bland, with the generic black 13 above an all-purple logo with some texture to it:
I think 13 could have been much better, but at least it isn’t as strange as 14:
This one is even hard to read. You can’t really tell it’s #14 quite that easily and I can’t think of any inspiration for the cubic nature of it.
At least things are more natural with WrestleMania XV:
It’s nowhere near my favorite logo, but it’s simple and effective. The XV sits well. I’m not big on the M having the part on the left jutting out, nor do I think the metallic effect is great, but it’s a good enough design.
Unfortunately, WWE then decided not to dub the next event “WrestleMania XVI” or “WrestleMania 16”, but “WrestleMania 2000”
Technically speaking, if WWE is “Then, Now and Forever”, then in 1963 years, when the 2000th WrestleMania takes place, they won’t be able to call it WrestleMania 2000 because of this.
Awful. I hate the new font. I hate the 2000. I hate everything about this and I hate that this started a trend of being different for the sake of different.
X-Seven? You couldn’t call it 17 or XVII? The logo itself is fine, albeit a little hard to read with the particular effects they’ve chosen. I actually quite like the placement of the subtitle and the adjustment of the font where the S isn’t wrapped around anymore (although I did like the old R).
The “X-Seven” name is just awful, but it’s not even the worst it gets, as the following year, we got this:
Now, WrestleMania 18 or WrestleMania XVIII is not even X-Eight, but X8 and in a scratchy font. This is terrible and tries way too hard to be cool. It’s my least favorite iteration of any branding for WrestleMania purely because of the X8. The logo is a little easier to read than the previous year, but entirely ruined by not just having XVIII in a more traditional font instead.
WrestleMania 19 was a step in the right direction:
Now that’s better. It is easy to read, the Roman numerals are back, the font is crisp and the colors are nice. I wouldn’t have wanted it to stay like this forever, but I do like this quite a bit.
Even better, in my mind, is WrestleMania 20:
This is rock solid, and not just because it has a more rocky texture. The XX is simple and comes to a jagged point, which, combined with the top part, makes this look like a diamond. That’s fantastic design.
I would like it even better if the WrestleMania part was straight and some of the stroke effects were toned down a bit, but this is one of the absolute best designs in my opinion.
WrestleMania 21 is, unfortunately, one of the worst. We’ve got a rather generic WrestleMania text, but with an unnecessary arch.
The 21 is too much. The 1 is barely a 1 because of how fat it is, so that choice of font is awful. “Goes Hollywood” gets more of a focus than WrestleMania, too. I’m not at all a fan of that one.
WrestleMania 22 is simple in theory, but has too many points going on that make it hard to read. In particular, the 22 blends in too much. They basically made a simple design too complex with the effects. The point idea, though, isn’t bad. This was just poor execution.
WrestleMania 23 is absolutely boring. The font is generic, as are the metallic effects. This feels very, very rushed. It also has more of a retro 50s car or diner aesthetic that I’m not into (which would be way more obvious if the blue was red).
Also, I’ve never been fond of the Arabic numbers in relation to WrestleMania. I think it just looks much classier with the Roman.
WrestleMania XXIV is the second location-based theme. Since this was in Florida, the addition of the sun in the background isn’t bad. I like this one a lot.
I have a feeling whoever suggested this is responsible for the current incarnations, as the next year did something rather similar:
There are now many WrestleMania logos with a star incorporated into it. This is my least favorite of the bunch. It has too much going on with the mirrored metal effects and the blue color scheme blending in a lot. You can barely even see the WWE logo unless you’re looking for it. I think a solid blue star and a flatter design would have made this pop better.
WrestleMania XXVI is forgettable. It’s fine. I don’t like the extra juts coming out of the W, but it’s necessary for the more pointy aesthetic. They tried something and it worked well enough, but I think this could have been an alternate design that was rejected, rather than the one they went with.
For the most part, I think the XXVII logo is an 8/10. The background shield shape isn’t perfect, but it’s a good attempt at it. I don’t have too much to say about it, overall.
WrestleMania XXVIII is one that I’m not fond of. The swoosh angle to it is strange, I don’t dig the color scheme (but I understand why it was used) and this is an example of the Roman numerals being too long. I would have been okay with this being “28” instead of XXVIII.
Overall, this feels less like a Super Bowl of Wrestling type logo to me and more that it should say the name of an amateur hockey team or some kind of snack food box art.
From this point on, WWE either intentionally or subconsciously had the initiative to always make the logo revolve around the location.
Unfortunately, for WrestleMania XXIX, they don’t even classify it with a number. Instead, they put “NY * NJ” which in and of itself is problematic. WWE continually referred to this as being a New York event, even though MetLife Stadium is in New Jersey. It just goes to show NJ doesn’t get any love in that kind of scenario.
I like the way they did the logo with the building, to an extent, but I hate the NY NJ. That should have been a XXIX number of some kind.
Simple, yet effective, the fleur-de-lis is used for WrestleMania XXX because it took place in New Orleans.
This is nowhere near my favorite logo, but I think it’s hard to dislike it. The XXX at the bottom frames it nicely and the color scheme is good.
When I first saw the “play button” WrestleMania logo, I shuddered. Why in the hell would it be a play button instead of at least “31” in that circle?!
I still think this is a bad idea, but the actual look of it is nice. It’s very simple and not at all gaudy or too bland. In fact, the WrestleMania text itself is among my absolute favorites. I just don’t like the play button, especially since this wasn’t the first event on the WWE Network. The previous year was.
WrestleMania 32 presents a problem. The play button is 31 because it’s after XXX, but then, we start getting to the point where I can’t tell you immediately what event this is based on the poster. Without remembering the card, there’s no indication here that it’s WrestleMania 31 or that it took place in 2016.
The star is generic. This was a problematic WrestleMania in a lot of ways and the design, while not bad, is just uninspired. I’m not a fan of the new font used for this, either.
Overall, I like the sun for WrestleMania 33. We’re back to the previous font and it looks pretty crisp. This gets a thumbs up from me, minus how I wish they would put a 33 at the bottom part of the sun underneath the text.
I think WrestleMania 34 is a much better design than WrestleMania XXX. It’s still the same fleur-de-lis, so it’s not too special, but it’s just an overall better logo. I love the gold coloring and the extra bars around the WrestleMania text. I like how the text is wrapped with the fleur-de-lis edges, too.
This would be such a perfect logo for this event if it just had the number 34 at the bottom.
With a slightly different font that you can mostly tell just by looking at the R and S, I’m a HUGE fan of WrestleMania 35’s logo.
This variation on the Statue of Liberty crown with gold instead of green is just fantastic. Again, I wish it said 35 in that empty space, but other than that, this is so, so good and among my absolute favorites. It’s easy to read, it looks regal and it just pops.
WrestleMania 36’s logo made sense being in Tampa. With the Buccaneers, a pirate theme was inevitable.
Sometimes, I look at this logo and think it resembles clip-art a bit too much. Other times, I think it’s practically perfect for what they were going for.
This brings us to the next three that we’re aware of:
WrestleMania Hollywood was originally scheduled for WrestleMania 37 and I absolutely 100% love and adore that logo. If that “Hollywood” text was the number of the event, it would be perfect.
But once 37 was changed to go back to Raymond James Stadium, I wondered if they would just use the same logo as 36, and hoped they wouldn’t, nor would they abandon the Hollywood design I liked so much.
Thankfully, we have a new pirate themed logo with 37 and Hollywood has been kept (at least for now) for 2023. Stuck between them is WrestleMania 38, which has just another generic star, but they’ve learned from before and made blue the more primary color.
All in all, I like these quite a bit. They still suffer from the problem of not being able to identify the number of the event as easily, and it takes an extra second to think “Which one was in Texas? 37? 38? I know it had ____ as the main event. Was that 2021 or 2022 or 2023?” But by and large, WWE has gotten the hang of these logos and I’m excited to see what designs could come out of an event in Philadelphia, Chicago, the UK and other areas.
What are your favorite versions of the WrestleMania logo? Tell us in the comments below!
