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Las Vegas will become the world capital of professional wrestling for a few days in April.
WrestleMania 42 will be the main course for most fans making the trip to Sin City. But in the days leading up to the star-studded show at Allegiant Stadium, there are plenty of events taking place across The Strip that could leave you satisfied and smiling.
Paragon Talent Group and Palms Casino Resort announced last week that Slam Fest will take place at the venue, starting April 15 and running through April 18. It will bring together several professional wrestling companies, including Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), House of Glory (HOG), World Wonder Ring Stardom and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, for days of matches.
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Additionally, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley will host his comedy show, pro wrestling star Saraya will have a live episode of her podcast, “Rulebreakers with Saraya,” and tag team legends Matt and Jeff Hardy will host a “Hardy Party” with Matt Hardy sharing stories from his career.
Mojo Rawley arrives at Sports Illustrated’s SI The Party at Cow Palace Arena & Event Center on February 8, 2026 in Daly City, California. (Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images)
Dean Muhtadi, co-founder of Paragon Talent Group who performed in WWE as Mojo Rawley, told Pak Gazette Digital that the event received good ratings from fans last year and they wanted to do it again.
“How can we make this this year bigger and better? One way we decided to do it would be to put on the wrestling shows at the Palms this year,” Muhtadi explained. “That was going to be a big one. We’ve also done some really amazing events. The Hardys are doing their ‘Hardy Party,’ Mick Foley is going to have his comedy show, Saraya is doing a live podcast. Of course, you know, we’re bringing back the pool party because that was our biggest event last year by far.
“Lots of fun for the fans. Lots of fun for us too: tons of games, activities and things to do. We never want to throw parties where everyone is a little bored, standing around. We want to create very intimate experiences for the fans where they can hang out with the fighters, play with them, eat something, have a drink, chat. With Paragon, that’s always what we try to do with our events: make the talent accessible and allow everyone to have a good time together.”
A key component to having an event like Slam Fest was making it affordable.
Saraya (black attire) during AEW Dynamite at Footprint Center on February 22, 2023. (Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports)
Prices for major professional wrestling events could range from $200 to $2,000.
Muhtadi said that at any event Paragon has hosted, affordability “has always been a primary goal.”
“One of Paragon’s biggest core competencies is sponsorships and third-party brand deals. With those, we can sometimes get our partners on board and reduce those costs so we can make admission free or half price, or something like that,” he said. “If we can bring any of our partners on board, we want it to be a win-win. I think a lot of wrestling fans can agree that sometimes when you see events with too many sponsor brands and logos everywhere, it can be a detraction unless the fans also feel a victory for that.
“We did our wrestler combine event that was previously sponsored by DraftKings. We reduced the ticket prices to almost nothing for that. We’ve done free admission for other events thanks to the sponsors. DreamMania was a show that was put on that was completely free for fans and that had professional wrestling shows and musical performances and Florida performances, all that. But I think, especially in this climate, things are getting more and more expensive every day and I think it’s imperative to have a successful event. Make everyone come in the door and let them have fun once they’re there.”
Either way, fans are in for a treat all week long. Muhtadi had immense respect for each of the companies that entered the building.
Saya Kamitani inside the ring during Women’s Wrestling “Stardom” – 15th Anniversary at Edion Arena Osaka on February 7, 2026 in Osaka, Japan. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
TJPW, Stardom and CMLL are all well-established professional wrestling companies outside of the US that have created major stars and leveraged partnerships with the best of the best in the industry to bring their wrestlers to places like WWE and All Elite Wrestling.
Muhtadi said the fact that companies like these are coming into Palms Casino for Slam Fest “shows the strength of the professional wrestling world.”
CMLL will make history by presenting its first independent event held outside of Mexico at the Palms Casino Resort.
Scott D’Amore, former president of Total Nonstop Action (TNA), founded Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP) and relaunched the brand in August 2024. The company has hosted several events since re-entering professional wrestling.
“Maple Leaf Pro, his first show in the United States. When you go back and look at Scott D’Amore’s background, that’s saying something, right? This is an incredibly successful guy,” he said. “He’s been one of our partners with Paragon to put this whole thing together in the first place, helping us headline the wrestling portion of Slam Fest and he’s been great.
“Also, it’s kind of funny, considering we used to negotiate contracts against this guy. And everyone always used to say that Scott D’Amore is a really nice guy and I was like, you know, I’ve never seen that part. I think he’s a little bit of an idiot. But that’s what happens when you’re negotiating these things, right? But we’re on the same team now, man, I get it all. I told him that once, we were laughing out loud about it, but we had a wealth of knowledge. We brought so much to the table about the table for us to put all this here.
HOG was co-founded by former TNA star Amazing Red in 2012 and is the only American company to appear at Slam Fest. The Hardys are the HOG Tag Team Champions and are expected to be in action during Slam Fest.
Jeff and Matt Hardy win during Showdown at the WWE Performance Center on October 7, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Bradlee Rutledge/via Getty Images)
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“As you can see, we’re very excited about the team we’ve put together, the shows we’ll be able to put on for the fans. I mean, a lot of our events will be free admission, the pool party. You’ve got some of the biggest names in the history of the business and fans can come meet them and hang out for literally $0 and the venue is big enough to hold everyone, free entertainment complimented with all the events… it’s going to be a lot.
“We have a lot of things cooking.”
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