On March 31, DMV rapper Wale traveled to Dallas for the latest installment of Walemania. His annual Wrestlemania Weekend event featured some big names from professional wrestling and the music industry.
Wale partnered with Spotify for this year’s Walemania in Texas. Former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide hosted the rap/wrestling crossover event inside the House of Blues. Foot Locker sold merchandise at an onsite pop-up shop.
In addition to Wale being in attendance, Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, and Yella Beezy also represented the Hip Hop contingent. Numerous figures from different wrestling companies intermingled with the rappers.
AEW’s TBS Champion Jade Cargill joined Wale on stage as the Warner Bros recording artist performed “Lotus Flower Bomb.” Plus, WWE giant Omos rapped Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement” for the crowd.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins from the WWE tag team known as The Street Profits danced to New Edition’s music. AEW wrestler/Hip Hop artist Swerve Strickland provided his own musical performance as well.
Other WWE main roster superstars, such as Cedric Alexander, could be seen at Walemania. Rising AEW competitors Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarty, and Shawn Dean showed up in Dallas as well.
Impact Wrestling’s Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Chris Bey, and Tom Hannifan also attended Walemania 2022. NXT 2.0 standouts Carmelo Hayes, Cameron Grimes, Indi Hartwell, and LA Knight were in the building too. Several independent wrestlers were also present.
Walemania founder Wale is a longtime wrestling fan. Last year, Wale teamed with WWE to create exclusive merchandise for the Summerslam pay-per-view. The collection paid homage to wrestling legends like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, and Junkyard Dog.
Photos via Roman Pena