WWE Dangles A Bigger London Carrot

In 1992, the World Wrestling Federation held its annual SummerSlam event in front of a hot Wembley Stadium crowd. Leading in, the advertising slogan called it 'The SummerSlam You Thought You'd Never See'.

We saw it.

But, we didn't see another major Pay-Per-View event take place in a British stadium until Cardiff hosted the Clash at the Castle event in September of 2022. 

Even then, it's hard to consider Clash at the Castle a 'Major' event considering it was not one of the Big Five on the WWE calendar.

It took WWE thirty years to return to stadiums in the UK. This despite pleas by fans to bring one of the aforementioned big fives to these shores.

Every few years, WWE would dangle the 'London should have a WrestleMania' carrot in front of its British-based fans. Noting would come of it. 

Until yesterday when the biggest carrot of all was held up high for all to see.

WWE heads - Paul 'Triple H' Levesque and Nick Khan - travelled to London to visit with London Mayor - Sadiq Khan. Their meeting was to talk about potentially bringing WrestleMania to the British capital.

To me, the timing seems peculiar.

WrestleMania 41 is already scheduled for Las Vegas. On top of that, a few weeks ago, WWE and Indianapolis confirmed that the city will host a Royal Rumble (already announced for 2025), WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

I don't see where London fits in the imminent plans. 

Does Indianapolis' WrestleMania take place AFTER it has had SummerSlam? If so, that should wipe 2026 out of contention because SummerSlam '26 has already been confirmed for Minneapolis.

My first reaction, upon seeing last night's news, was to wonder whether the meeting was done to somehow mess with AEW All In which returns to Wembley Stadium next month.

Or - to disrupt potential negotiations between AEW and Wembley Stadium for a third consecutive All In from the historic stadium.

Last year's AEW All In event broke records that were set by the then WWF's summer spectacular thirty-two years ago. 

WrestleMania in the London mix makes All In feel like a lesser show by name value. Only a maniac would argue otherwise.

Why tease a London WrestleMania now when it cannot take place until at least 2026? It has to be to undercut the competition.

Hasn't it?

NBA Heading Back To Sky (In 2025/26)

I have been passively following the NBA TV rights deals that have been made Stateside. The main and sole reason why I have been interested in the deals is because I believe anything between Warner Bros./Discovery may have an impact on All Elite Wrestling's television future on TNT in the US.

There could potentially be a big showdown with WBD and the NBA because the latter has agreed to a deal with Amazon that WBD had matched. The NBA has opted to go with the streaming route, however.

But - that's all for the very near future. 

What has prompted me to write about the NBA today is due to the fact that - this very morning - Sky Sports has announced an eleven-year deal with the NBA and WNBA. 

All this begins with the 2025/26 season. 

The press release states that Sky Sports will air all of the games NBCUniversal picked up in its rights deal with both the NBA and WNBA.

Sky had recently lost the rights to air the games due to a deal the league had with TNT Sports(WBD) here in the UK.

For those keeping score - TNT Sports will lose WWE and now the NBA in 2025.

Fantasy League Is Back For '24

I received an email from NFL Fantasy yesterday. It informed me that the league I have played in for many years has been set up for another season.

I don't know when the draft will take place. I surmise, just like usual, it'll be on the Sunday before the season kicks off.

If my guess is correct, I believe it'll be Sunday 1st September.

Hopefully, I end up winning the league's fantasy Super Bowl - something I haven't done for a very long time.

The Games

I don't know how much of the Olympic Games I'll catch once it begins later this week.

It seems like only yesterday when London was hosting. 2012 was the year I enjoyed the Games the most. I don't think it's mainly because it was fairly local to me. I think it's due to how much content was available to watch on TV.

I would wake up and watch rifle shooting and archery - things I hadn't cared for before nor, if I'm to be straight up, after those Games.

I'd like to watch those again this time around. If I can. 

Even though 2012 was the year I threw myself into watching as much I could, I still have to give a shout out to Barcelona '92. 

Loved that year as well what with the USA's Dream Team and Chris Boardman's winning of a gold medal on the Lotus bicycle. I remember seeing that bike and thinking the future had arrived. 

Just look at it. Then consider the time. It looked so futuristic. Heck, even the helmet looked out of this world.

A New American Football Mag For My Collection

I bought an American football magazine over the weekend.

It's printed by Future Publishing here in the UK and is called 'The NFL Book' under a brand named 'Ultimate Sports Collection'.

The book is an annual for the upcoming NFL season with write ups for all thirty-two teams. But, it's more than that.

Also inside the publication is a review of last season's NFL action, articles focusing on the history of the Super Bowl, the greatest games in the league's history and a list of the top 50 players over time.

The title also serves as an introduction to new followers of the sport by explaining the rules of the game with another focus on 'How The NFL Works'.

Considering I only bought it on Saturday, I have not completely read through the entire mag. However, I feel it is a positive to see a British publisher involved in this popular sport.  Especially Future Publishing - a company I hold fond childhood memories of from its computer and video game magazines released back in the day.

The magazine has a cover price of £7.99 and, to potentially misquote those adverts from the past (but, I'll try anyway), should be available from all good newsagents.

Ringside Gamble By S.J. Clarke

While browsing through the list of books I could read from the NetGalley website a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon one titled 'Ringside Gamble'. 

Curiosity got the better of me. I clicked on the book's page and read that the story was about a Muay Thai boxer - Nong - on the rise in his chosen profession but the ascent comes with hurdles of corruption in his sport.

A book about combat sport with gambling featured in some sort? Of course I was going to read it!

I'll have to be straight up - I found Ringside Gamble a struggle. It seemed the author - S.J. Clarke - was too descriptive by adding scenes in the novel which, I felt, didn't need to be there. It came across - to me - that there was a poor editing job done. 

With that said, Clarke's use of mashing everything together to tell the story about Nong could be seen as a tool to educate people about Thai culture. One of the most predominant things in the story is the influence of spirit animals on the main characters.

I enjoyed almost all of the scenes which involved the animals. The only time I felt it went a bit too far was near the end when one of the baddies (a corrupt gangster) was punished by one of the imaginary animals in the story. As soon as I read how the gangster fell to the animal, I felt annoyed because - for a few pages - I felt the punishment he received did not fit the crime. However, later in the novel, reasoning was given for why the animal chose the course of action against the bad guy.

The parts in the novel which explain Nong's fights were very descriptive and perfect. That - for sure - was a plus.

I struggle to agree with the 'advanced praise' for Ringside Gamble from Book Authority which states that the title is 'highly recommended for readers of all ages'. I would not suggest this book be read to, or by, young children because of the use of occasional curse words.

I also find it difficult to reason how - of the thirteen ratings this book has received on Amazon (as of July 21 2025) - all have rated it five stars. 

Unless I'm missing something: I'm afraid Ringside Gamble is close to middle of the road as far as I'm concerned.

⭐⭐/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Literally PR LTD for allowing me to read Ringside Gamble in echange for an honest review

Order Ringside Gamble from Amazon.com

Order Ringside Gamble from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon Prime Day '24: The Aftermath

I didn't spend too much this Amazon Prime Day.

I did spend, though.

On the morning of the first day of the event, I came across an offer in which Prime customers could buy three eight packs of Coca-Cola for something like £8 (I cannot recall how much exactly.

It had my favourite - Coke Zero Vanilla - on the offer, so I purchased two packets of that variety and then selected Coke Zero Cherry for the third box.

Twenty-four cans are usually £10ish at Asda, so I made a small saving there.

The only other things I purchased were batteries. One box of AAs and another of AAAs. 

Not a crazy one, unlike last year when I bought a vacuum cleaner, carpet cleaner and an Amazon Kindle Scribe.