LAS VEGAS – In the months before Las Vegas was selected as the host city for WrestleMania 41, it seemed like all but a formality that Minneapolis would be awarded the prestigious annual event.
After WWE president Nick Khan attended Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in February with fellow TKO executives Lawrence Epstein and Peter Dropick, it became evident where WrestleMania 41 needed to be held.
Las Vegas is the only city that truly made sense for this growing iteration of the WWE, if for no other reason than the fact that Vegas is on a similar trajectory itself. Think about it. These are two iconic American brands, rooted in show business and high-risk action, that went through their fair share of turbulence in recent decades to now find themselves on the other side and in position to dominate social conversation for the rest of the 2020s.
Khan spoke with LVCVA president Steve Hill at Preview Las Vegas on Thursday, discussing the WWE’s and his own path to hosting WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.
“I called Lawrence and Peter (after the Super Bowl) and said, ‘You know, that was big,’” Khan said. “We all thought it would be big. I think it exceeded our high expectations. I said, ‘We're not yet locked in for WrestleMania in 2025. What do you guys think of doing it in Vegas?’”
From that point on, it was money in the bank. Epstein and Dropick called back two hours later with an invitation to meet with Hill and the deal was on the fast track from there.
Kalin Sipes - The Sporting Tribune
WWE president Nick Khan speaks with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s Steve Hill at the Vegas Chamber 2025 convention on Thursday Jan. 16 2025 in Las Vegas.
There was perhaps no better liaison to establish relations between the WWE and the LVCVA than Khan, a son of Las Vegas himself. Khan, a second generation Iranian-American, was born at Sunrise Hospital in 1974 and graduated from Bonanza High School in 1992. He later earned a bachelors degree from UNLV before earning a doctorate in law from the prestigious Whittier Law School in California. In his own words, he was raised “two miles one way of the Strip, two miles the other way of the Strip.”
“My parents were immigrants,” Khan said. “They came here for opportunity and they found opportunity. I graduated from UNLV, and then I left to go to law school a year before UNLV opened its law school. My in-laws are here. My parents are here. Vegas is our home. It is going to be a little bit special to be able to bring an event of this magnitude back to (my) hometown.”
If there’s anybody in the business who understands the significance of WrestleMania’s return to Las Vegas, it’s the man who picked up an extra shift as an usher on April 4, 1993 so he could attend WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace in person.
“As I waited tables and put myself through school, there was a company that would hire folks to seat folks at different sporting events,” Khan said. “I figured it was an easy job, not only getting in for free to watch these events, but you'd actually get paid. In terms of my skills as an usher, they weren't that great, but I got to see WrestleMania IX live. I got to see a lot of boxing events live. It was a fun period of my career.”
Khan’s journey of bringing the most prestigious event in sports entertainment back to his hometown is the epitome of the American Dream, but it was a dream that required a little bit of that old fashioned luck you need to make it in America and in a city like Las Vegas.
Khan’s bank account was in dire straits around the time he had to devote himself to studying for the bar exam and he found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“I knew for myself, I could not work full-time, study for the bar for two months and pass,” Khan said. “I needed to take those two months off. My monthly overhead at that time was like $2,000 a month, something, you know, which now, one could consider somewhat de minimis. Then, it was everything. So, I thought to myself, ‘There's no rich uncle to borrow $5,000 from. What do I do?’.”
The answer Khan found was an unorthodox one, but it was just the one he needed.
“This is 1999, going into 2000. At the time, I sent in a postcard to Wheel of Fortune. I got a letter in the mail, hey, come and audition for Wheel of Fortune. I went to audition. There were 1,000 people auditioning. Fortunately for me, out of the 1,000 people, 900 of them were 90 years or older.
“So, I'm sure you're familiar with the show. You go up, you do a test spin. The older folks would spin, Z, X. I went up there, spun the wheel. I said, T, and they're like, ‘Okay, hey, you're on the show’. So, I went on Wheel of Fortune. I won $16,500, and when your bank account goes from zero to $16,500, you think, ‘I'm never gonna have to work again. This is over.’ I quit my job, studied for the bar, passed the bar, and then I started as a lawyer.”
Kalin Sipes - The Sporting Tribune
WWE president Nick Khan speaks with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s Steve Hill at the Vegas Chamber 2025 convention on Thursday Jan. 16 2025 in Las Vegas.
Khan eventually spent seven years as a lawyer before reaching prominence in the sports industry as an agent for Manny Pacquiao during the boxer’s meteoric rise in the mid 2000s. He eventually moved on to become the co-head of television at agency giant CAA, where he represented the top professional sports leagues, collegiate conferences and sports media personalities in their media rights negotiations.
Through this role, Khan established a relationship with current WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and became WWE president in August of 2020.
To think it all started with a spin on Wheel of Fortune.
“I'm sure it's happened in your life,” Khan said. “Where you needed something to happen, or other things could not happen. I got lucky. $16,500. It changed my life and here we are.”
WrestleMania and Las Vegas are a perfect match. Not just because their goals and their trajectories align, but because they are long-lost spiritual partners.
“The WWE, we consider ourselves an underdog organization,” Khan said. “Vegas is a town for underdogs. That means this is a town for fighters. People who have a dream can come here, and they can realize their dreams. I like that marriage in many, many ways.
“If you work hard in Las Vegas, if you get a little bit of luck, your dreams can actually come to fruition. It's not that way in certain cities.”