Tag: london

Mayor believes London could help WWE bring WrestleMania to new heights

Posted on by Joseph Currier

London Mayor Sadiq Khan believes his city could help bring WrestleMania to new heights.

Bringing WrestleMania to London is a goal that Khan remains committed to. Whether that will happen at any point in the near future remains to be seen, but the London mayor met with WWE executives Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Nick Khan last summer to discuss the possibility. This week, he again called on WWE to have London host WrestleMania.

“I’d love for WrestleMania to come to London,” Khan told CNBC while speaking at the SXSW London 2025 conference. “Triple H if you’re watching, we want WrestleMania to come to London.”

As of now, WrestleMania has never been held outside of North America. Bringing the event overseas would present logistical challenges, but Levesque has said WWE is open to making it work.

Sadiq Khan told CNBC that he believes a huge international city like London could help WWE expand WrestleMania into something even bigger than it already is.

“If WrestleMania came to London, my message to the team there is that we wouldn’t just have a great weekend, we’d have a festival, of you know, legends in WrestleMania coming to London, current stars, but also future stars as well,” he said. “It will open a completely new market for them as well.

“I think the potential has not been reached in terms of WrestleMania. We are the sporting capital in my view, of the world. And if WrestleMania wants to expand, the obvious place to come is London.”

While a deal for London to host WrestleMania has not been made at this point, WWE is close to finalizing Las Vegas as the location for WrestleMania 42 in 2026. It will be the second straight year Vegas has hosted WrestleMania.

Indianapolis and New Orleans are confirmed as future WrestleMania host cities but do not have dates attached yet. New Orleans was originally supposed to host WrestleMania 42 before WWE made the decision to move the show to Vegas.

London mayor ‘remains committed’ to hosting WWE WrestleMania

Posted on by Joseph Currier

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is still hoping to bring WrestleMania to his city.

In his 2024 re-election campaign, Khan mentioned WrestleMania among the major sporting events he wants London to host. There has been no deal struck yet between WWE and the city, but the mayor had a meeting with Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Nick Khan last summer about the possibility.

The mayor’s office published a report today touting that six events (the UEFA Champions League Final, NFL and MLB regular season games, the London E-Prix race, and London Athletics Meet) brought £230 million in direct economic impact to London in 2024. Looking ahead, the report said Sadiq Khan remains committed to making London the first city outside of the United States or Canada to host WrestleMania:

Building on London’s success, the Mayor has talked up his ambition to bring more of the biggest sporting events in the world to London. Sadiq has expressed his support for a bid for the Olympics and Paralympics to return to London in 2040, while he remains committed to making London WrestleMania’s first international destination. The Mayor is also in positive discussions with the NBA to bring games back to the capital, which is supported by the work of his Basketball Taskforce, while the 2029 World Athletics Championships is another target.

Levesque recently said that, while bringing WrestleMania overseas would be difficult logistically, WWE is up for the challenge.

Las Vegas was the host city for WrestleMania 41, and New Orleans is getting WrestleMania 42 in 2026. It’s also known that Indianapolis will host WrestleMania at some point as part of a deal between WWE and Indiana Sports Corp.

Tony Khan: AEW All In will return to London in 2026

Posted on by Josh Nason

After he announced that All In would be heading to Texas in July 2025, AEW head Tony Khan likely eased some minds in the United Kingdom by also announcing that All In would return to London in 2026.

Khan made the statement during the All In: Texas press conference Thursday, but didn’t add any information in terms of a date or a confirmation it would emanate from Wembley Stadium for a third time.

Those details could come as soon as next Sunday’s All In from London.

While London appears to be out for next year, AEW might still be heading out internationally again in 2025 for a major event as news broke this week that they are in advanced talks to run a stadium show in Australia. Khan has yet to address that rumor publicly.

In addition to Wembley, Khan has also ran AEW events in Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, for their annual Grand Slam Dynamite & Rampage every September.

Nick Khan, Triple H & London mayor meet about potential of hosting WWE WrestleMania

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: Daily Star

While thought of as a longshot when first brought up, the 2023 dream of John Cena to bring WWE WrestleMania to London may be closer to becoming a reality after all.

Several news outlets reported Thursday that London mayor Sadiq Khan had a surprise meeting Thursday afternoon at City Hall with WWE CEO Nick Khan and chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque about the possibility of bringing the annual two-night event to London for the first time ever.

The mayor has been public in his desire to bring major international sports events to London of which WrestleMania was included. He posted on X about that desire in April to which Levesque replied, “Let’s talk.”

He told the Daily Star that “it’s exciting to be working with the WWE team. The meeting was really productive, and talks will continue about how we could turn our ambition into a reality.”

The next WrestleMania is scheduled for Las Vegas with Indianapolis, Indiana, set to host the big event at an undetermined date.

“Sadiq Khan and his team are working hard on positioning London as a sport and entertainment capital of Europe and it has been great to hear more on his vision for how WWE can support them on that journey, ” Nick Khan said, adding “There is a lot that needs to be discussed further but we share the ambition of Mayor Khan in trying to bring a stand-out WWE premium live event to London.”

One of those items that needs to be “discussed further” is likely a site fee which has been a publicly-stated goal of TKO management on both investors calls and speaking events. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also publicly stated their desire to host WrestleMania as their annual commit to WWE for two PLEs a year puts them in the driver’s seat.

The above Cena reference is to his 2023 appearance at Money in the Bank when he spoke about wanting to have WrestleMania in London.

Triple H responds to London mayor wanting to host WWE WrestleMania

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Update —

Paul “Triple H” Levesque posted the following tweet responding to London mayor Sadiq Khan wanting to host WrestleMania:

**********

As part of his re-election campaign, London mayor Sadiq Khan is hoping to bring WWE WrestleMania to the United Kingdom for the first time ever.

Khan has said that, if re-elected on May 2, he will start a task force to bring more sports from the United States to the city. He wants London to host WrestleMania, the Super Bowl, and NBA games, along with hoping to have the Olympics in London again.

“I believe that London has the potential to host the first international WrestleMania,” Khan said.

It doesn’t seem like a UK WrestleMania is in WWE’s immediate plans. Company president Nick Khan stated last week that WWE has decided its big five PLEs (WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank) should be in the United States or Canada. The goal is for WWE’s other PLEs to take place from international locations.

WrestleMania 40 was held in Philadelphia earlier this month. The location for WrestleMania 41 has not been announced yet.

WWE’s upcoming international PLEs are Backlash (May 4 in France), King & Queen of the Ring (May 25 in Saudi Arabia), Clash at the Castle (June 15 in Scotland), and Bash in Berlin (August 31 in Germany).

London’s O2 Arena did host Money in the Bank last year. During the show, John Cena made a surprise appearance and advocated for WrestleMania to be brought to London.

Sadiq Khan has been London’s mayor since 2016.

Wrestling Observer Radio Q&A from London now streaming on Premier

Posted on by F4W Staff

The live Wrestling Observer Radio Q&A session with Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez from this past Sunday is now available to stream on Premier Streaming Network, home of top wrestling content including sessions from Starrcast V this upcoming weekend in Chicago.

Prior to AEW All In from London’s Wembley Stadium, Dave & Bryan talked to fans from all over the world at the Sports Bar & Grill Marylebone about any and all subjects pro wrestling — a session Dave called one of the best ones they have conducted.

The session was presented by Hooked on Wrestling, Wrestle Tours and PROGRESS Wrestling.

The Q&A is available for Premier + monthly & yearly subscribers, or for a one-time fee of $9.99 USD for non-subscribers.

Here’s how you watch.

WWE Raw taping results: Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are spoilers from tonight’s Raw tapings at the O2 Arena in London, England.

– Main Event: Mojo Rawley defeated Chad Gable.

Roman Reigns starts off Raw, cutting a promo on Jinder Mahal. Kurt Angle comes out and announces a Money in the Bank qualifying match pitting Mahal against Bobby Lashley and Elias in the main event. Reigns decides to go backstage and attacks Mahal, laying him out with a Superman punch before officials break it up.

– Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens to retain the Intercontinental title.

Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas, who are now officially known as the B-Team, asked Angle for a match for later tonight and got one.

– Axel & Dallas beat Breezango.

– Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and No Way Jose in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.

– Sasha Banks, Ember Moon and Natalya defeated the Riott Squad.

Natalya submitted Liv Morgan with the sharpshooter for the win.

– Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defeated The Revival

Hardy pinned Dawson.

Sami Zayn came out to cut a promo. He said that he has invited Bobby Lashley’s sisters to Raw next week so that he could “expose him”.

– Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley and Mickie James in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.

Roman Reigns finds Jinder Mahal backstage again and the two brawl once more.

– Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre defeated Finn Balor and Braun Strowman 

Ziggler got the win when he crotched Balor on the top rope. After the match, Strowman laid out McIntyre through the Greatest Royal Rumble trophy.

It was announced that Kevin Owens would be taking the place of Jinder Mahal tonight after Reigns repeatedly attacked him, leaving Mahal unable to compete.

– Kevin Owens defeated Bobby Lashley and Elias to advance in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.

Zayn interfered at the end of the match, preventing Lashley from scoring the win. Elias joins him and Owens in beating down Lashley until Roman Reigns makes the save, which turns into…

– Dark match: Bobby Lashley, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Elias

Reigns hit the spear on Owens for the win.

Both Raw and SmackDown will return to England in November with tapings in Manchester.

WWE London, ENG, live results: Cesaro stays alive in the best-of-seven series

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by Martin Bentley from the O2 Arena in London, England.

– Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day defeated Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows to retain their titles.

Xavier Woods helped turn the tide, allowing Big E and Kofi Kingston to hit the Midnight Hour for the win. Good standard opening match fare.

– Neville defeated Bo Dallas (w/Curtis Axel)

Some stiff shots laid in for this one. Neville knocked Axel off the apron, then later won with the Red Arrow.

– Braun Strowman defeated Goldust

Strowman won with his head and arm choke in a quick match. Good reaction for Goldust.

– Big Show defeated the Shining Stars in a handicap match.

Some good laughs in this one, almost all at Primo and Epico’s expense. Big Show won with a double chokeslam.

– Cesaro defeated Sheamus in match four of their best-of-seven series. Sheamus now holds a 3-1 advantage in the series.

Very good match. It went 20 minutes and built up well as it went on. Cesaro reversed out of a leg submission hold to roll Sheamus up for the pin.

– Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Sasha Banks to retain her title.

Banks’ back held up well over 10 minutes, and the match got a good reaction. Charlotte got out of the Banks Statement, then rolled Sasha up and pulled her trunks to pick up the win.

– Roman Reigns defeated Chris Jericho

Tremendous amount of booing towards Reigns. Jericho was very entertaining with his pre-match promo, and entertained during the match as well. Well worked contest which went around 15 minutes. Jericho got the fans thinking he’d win with the Walls of Jericho, but Reigns got out and hit the spear.

– WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match to retain his title.

Rollins looked good as a main event babyface, even though Zayn was loved by everyone. Good three-way spots, including dives by Rollins and Zayn. Zayn hit the Helluva Kick on Rollins, but Owens hit the Pop-Up Powerbomb for the win.

Zayn hit the Helluva Kick and Rollins hit the Pedigree on Owens after the match to send the fans home happy. Rollins and Zayn shook hands after.

The next show in London is on November 4th at SSE Arena Wembley, featuring the Raw roster, and Owens vs. Rollins was advertised.