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?
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