Roman Reigns, ready for action, at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. (Courtesy WWE) The story behind WrestleMania coming to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome starts at “no,” which is what the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation said after WWE contacted the group about bidding for the 2014 edition. The foundation felt the wrestle-fest didn’t fit its mission statement for bringing sports events to town, said Alan Freeman, SMG’s general manager for the Superdome and Smoothie King Center, the NBA arena across the street. The foundation did, however, put WWE in contact with Freeman, who put a host committee together and spearheaded the bid. It was successful in landing the event, WrestleMania 30, which grossed $11 million in ticket sales with attendance of more than 75,000 at the Superdome. “Our sports foundation didn’t really understand and know much about it at the time,” said Doug Thornton, SMG executive vice president. “We had to… Continue Reading How a ‘No’ in NOLA Became a Big ‘Yes’