WWE WrestleMania 32 Lands a Perfect Home in AT&T Stadium

WWE's WrestleMania 32 and Dallas' AT&T Stadium are set to converge in an ideal marriage of venue and event.

Grandeur meets grandeur as the biggest pro wrestling show of the year finds a colossal home. The capacity of Jerry Jones' slickly designed structure offers WWE a chance to break one of its own records. The location also offers the perfect opportunity for two Texas natives to sing their swan songs.

News that the Dallas Cowboys' home will play host to WrestleMania broke Tuesday. As announced on WWE.com, "AT&T Stadium in Texas' Dallas-Arlington region will host WWE's pop-culture extravaganza, WrestleMania 32, on Sunday, April 3, 2016."

That had long been the rumored spot for next year's marquee event. The confirmation comes as no surprise.

Every since Jerry's World went up in 2009, WWE fans have envisioned their favorite sports-entertainment circus heading to that stadium. It's not only more than spacious enough to pack in thousands of fans, but its modern, seemingly sci-fi-inspired design also makes it feel grand and novel.

That's the kind of place befitting WrestleMania, WWE's annual over-the-top wrestling and entertainment extravaganza. 

WrestleMania 32's venue gives WWE a chance to break the record it set back in 1987. The Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, welcomed WrestleMania 3 that year, and fans came in droves—93,173, to be exact.

As Jesse Lawrence wrote for Forbes, "The 93,173 attendance held the overall record for live indoor sporting event in North America." The event Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant headlined held that record until 2010.

That's when, per Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com, the 2010 NBA All-Star Game at AT&T Stadium "drew a crowd of 108,713 fans."

WrestleMania 32 could surpass that mark or at least outdo WrestleMania 3. ESPN's Mark Schlabach tweeted that the building can hold up to 105,000 people:

The record-breaking NBA game squeezed in 108,000, though. And even with its oversized sets, WrestleMania's ring setup won't be as big as a basketball court.

The appeal of breaking records is too tempting for WWE not to seek out the opportunity. The company will have some impressive numbers to brag about thanks to WrestleMania 32's location, and that's a part of the appeal. Money plays a part as well.

Madison Square Garden has Jerry's World beat in terms of history, but WWE can rake in a Texas-sized pile of cash in Arlington.

The folks at AT&T Stadium are accustomed to seeing its turnstiles churning as money pours in. A succession of major events have already taken place there. It hosted the 2014 NCAA men's Final Four, Super Bowl XLV and the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship. U2, One Direction, Beyonce and Jay Z have all played concerts there.

WrestleMania exists somewhere between those two types of events, intermingling sport and spectacle. During the press conference to announce WrestleMania 32's location, Vince McMahon had that same thought, as WWE tweeted: 

The timing and location may turn out to be fortuitous for McMahon and Company.

Both "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker are from Texas. Bringing the event to their home state offers them a poetic way to entertain the fans one last time.

It's not clear how much time The Undertaker has left to compete. Should he be healthy enough by the time the spring of 2016 rolls around, WrestleMania 32 could be a show designed to salute him for a career's worth of greatness.

Jim Ross touched on that possibility on his blog:

"

I have written here many times throughout the years that IF Undertaker was going to have his last match that it should be the focal point of a WrestleMania and that it should come from his home state of Texas in the biggest celebration possible and that the venue should be Jerry's World.

"

Undertaker's final match would certainly be the type of draw that helps sell out a stadium capable of hosting over 100,000 fans. The same is true for Austin.

Jonathan Bachman/Associated Press

Every year around WrestleMania time, the rumors of Austin's comeback match heat up. He's apparently not closed off to the idea, especially if the event was in Dallas. 

In an interview with Wade Keller on Pro Wrestling Torch, Austin suggested he would be willing to fight once more, especially in the Lone Star State, saying, "Dallas, that could be very special going back to Texas for 32. They're going to need a loaded card to fill that house. So, I'll reserve my right."

Let the speculation for how WWE crafts that card begin.

Who is champion by then, who has emerged as the next top star and which greats from the past make their way back to the ring are all questions left to be answered. WWE has, however, revealed where 2016's marquee event will be, a stadium that feels as if the architects had WrestleMania in mind.