The photography of WrestleMania with Rich Freeda: 25 Years Making WWE

Wrestlemania is a global phenomenon that draws thousands of followers from all over the world. Rich Freeda has been the company's official photographer for over 25 years.



He began his career by responding to an advertisement published in the New York Times for a sports entertainment company that was looking for a photo editor.




It is a job of great physical demand, Rich can work without rest for 12 or 16 hours at a normal television show day. His photographic production is not limited to the show, he is also in charge of studio photography where promotional images are made or where unique moments are captured such as the image of Kofi Kingston with his mother.


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Wrestlemania 19, March 30, 2003 Seattle, Washington If you’ve never seen a 290lb man do a reverse flip off the top rope, do a search for the video of Brock Lesnar’s Shooting Star Press at Wrestlemania 19. I only got one frame of it, and while its not a great photo, it is the moment Brock nearly landed this move. I say nearly, because he just under rotated and landed mostly on his head. It was a tough moment to watch and I, like everyone, wondered if he’d ever move again. He did and despite being a bit groggy, the match ended with Brock beating Kurt Angle for his 2nd WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This was the first Wrestlemania we shot with digital cameras. The cameras were not great, the quality was iffy for shooting sports and nobody was used to dealing with such a large quantity of digital files, much less RAW files, but we pushed through. I remember being told that we needed to convert our RAW files to high resolution .tif files that our editors could edit from, as they were having trouble working with the native camera RAW files. The entire 5 hour flight home to NY, I had my laptop open running an automated action that would convert these files trying to convert everything so I could drop the images off at the office as soon as I landed. Thankfully this digital process got much better as we learned better how to manage all these files and data. * * * * * #WWE #WWF #BrockLesnar #KurtAngle #Wrestlemania #SafecoField #Seattle #sportsphotographer #Sportsphotography #ctphotographer⠀ #commercialphotography #ctcommercialphotographer ⠀ #cteditorialphotorapher⠀ #nyceditorialphotorapher⠀ #commercialphotographer⠀ #CTphotographer #editorialphotographer⠀ #editorialphotography #ctportraitphotographer #portraitphotographer

A post shared by Rich Freeda (@richfreedaphoto) on Mar 22, 2019 at 8:31am PDT

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Wrestlemania 21, April 3, 2005 Los Angeles, CA, Staples Center John Cena won his first WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 21, defeating JBL for the first of his 16 World Titles, which ties him with Ric Flair for the most world titles in WWE history. Cena’s WWE fame rivals wrestling greats like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin & The Rock. Cena, an avid supporter of the Make-A-Wish foundation, holds the record for granting the most wishes, which in 2009 eclipsed 500. Like many of the photographers working for WWE, I have photographed a lot of John’s wishes. He’s second to none in how he treats the kids he meets. * * * * * #WWE #WWF #JohnCena #Wrestlemania #StaplesCenter #LosAngeles #LA #sportsphotographer #Sportsphotography #ctphotographer⠀ #commercialphotography #ctcommercialphotographer ⠀ #cteditorialphotorapher⠀ #nyceditorialphotorapher⠀ #commercialphotographer⠀ #CTphotographer #editorialphotographer⠀ #editorialphotography #ctportraitphotographer #portraitphotographer

A post shared by Rich Freeda (@richfreedaphoto) on Mar 24, 2019 at 6:56am PDT

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3/29/2015 Mirrors are a photo cliché, but when you see yourself and @therock in the same frame, you click the shutter. The Rock was getting in the zone before heading out into the crowd for Wrestlemania 31 in Santa Clara, Ca. and this full length mirror is used by the talent for final checks before heading out. There are many more favorites and maybe I'll dig through the archives and post 10 days more next year. Cameras have been a passport to many different places and things over the years and I'll always be grateful for the opportunity.

A post shared by Rich Freeda (@richfreedaphoto) on Apr 2, 2017 at 5:06am PDT

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People ask me all the time what it’s like to produce photography for WWE. Think of a high intensity mash up of live theater, live sports and live music. TBT, to last week in Glasgow, Scotland, @realjackswagger goes airborne off the top rope. #onassignment, #wwe, #realjackswagger, #Glasgow, #photooftheday,

A post shared by Rich Freeda (@richfreedaphoto) on Apr 28, 2016 at 11:05am PDT

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Images and video via WWE

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