WWE announces WrestleMania coming to NJ in 2013

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - WrestleMania is coming to MetLife Stadium in 2013.

WWE announced late Wednesday on its website that WrestleMania 29 has been scheduled for April 7 of next year.

Gov. Chris Christie will hold a news conference Thursday at the two-year-old stadium to announce further details along with the owners of the New York Giants and Jets, the NFL teams that co-own the stadium.

WWE said promoter Vince McMahon and wrestlers Dwayne "The Rock'' Johnson, John Cena, Triple H, and Sheamus also will be in attendance.

WrestleMania will be held in Miami in April. The event, which has a week's worth of activities, generally fills stadiums. Last year's event in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta drew a crowd of 71,617 and generated millions in revenue for the region.

The traditional WrestleMania Week activities, including WrestleMania Axxess, the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and Monday Night Raw will take place across the New York/New Jersey area in the days leading up to the show.

Since making the full-time shift to holding the spectacle in football stadiums in 2007, the production has rivaled the Super Bowl. WrestleMania drew 72,219 fans at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2010; 72,744 to Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2009; 74,635 to the Citrus Bowl in 2008 and 80,103 to Ford Field in 2007.

The agreement was first reported Wednesday on the website of NJBIZ, a weekly business newspaper.