PRODUCE Wrestling’s Abdalla Says Bad WrestleMania Trip Shaped His Promotion

PRODUCE Wrestling founder Adam Abdalla says a rough experience at WrestleMania played a direct role in how he built his own promotion’s identity. Speaking ahead of an upcoming PRODUCE show, Abdalla described the letdown of attending wrestling’s biggest annual weekend as a turning point that pushed him toward presenting the sport differently once he started running his own events.

Abdalla didn’t frame it as bitterness toward WWE’s showcase event so much as a moment of clarity about what he didn’t want his own product to feel like. That experience, by his account, became a guiding principle for PRODUCE — a promotion that has carved out a niche by leaning into a stripped-down, fan-forward presentation rather than trying to mimic the spectacle of a mega-event.

It’s a familiar story in the independent wrestling world. WrestleMania weekend has ballooned into pro wrestling’s version of an industry convention, with dozens of promotions running shows in whatever city hosts WWE’s flagship event, all competing for the attention of traveling fans. For every attendee who walks away buzzing from a bucket-list weekend, plenty of others come away frustrated by long lines, sprawling crowds, or shows that feel more like content mills than must-see wrestling. Abdalla’s comments suggest his own brush with that side of the business left enough of an impression to shape PRODUCE’s entire approach.

That kind of origin story matters more than it might seem at first glance. Independent promotions increasingly define themselves in opposition to the biggest stage in wrestling — selling intimacy, unpredictability, or a sense of discovery that can get lost when a promotion scales up. Abdalla positioning PRODUCE as a direct response to a disappointing WrestleMania moment fits neatly into that broader trend of indie promoters using WWE’s biggest weekend as both inspiration and cautionary tale.

As PRODUCE continues building out its calendar, Abdalla’s comments offer a window into the philosophy driving the promotion’s choices, even if the finer details of that WrestleMania experience remain his own to tell. For now, it’s another reminder that some of wrestling’s most interesting alternatives are being built by people who know exactly what they’re trying not to replicate.