- London Mayor poses with WWE’s President Nick Khan
- Mayor makes good on his campaign to tempt major US sporting events to London
- WrestleMania in Philadelphia destroyed records
Usually, when television cameras are capturing London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s day-to-day activities, he is meeting with members of Parliament, business owners and local residents as the subjects of crime rates, public transport and green energy inevitably grab the headlines. It is not often that you will see the former Member of Parliament for Tooting schmoozing with a 14-time WWE Champion.
But when you run for Mayoral re-election on a platform of ‘Bring WrestleMania to London’ then, at some point, you will inevitably have to play The Game.
Videos and pictures of Khan with WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque and President Nick Khan circulated wildly across social media (Thursday 25th July) as the Mayor attempted to make good on his campaign promise to tempt major US sporting events to the English capital.
Since taking the reins of WWE’s creative output and talent roster in 2022, Hall of Famer Levesque has made a point of wanting to expand the promotion’s international ambitions, which has seen Premium Live Events (what the company now refers to Pay-Per-Views as) hosted in Australia, France and Scotland this year alone, with Bash In Berlin still to come at the end of August.
Last summer, during Money In The Bank at London’s o2 Arena, John Cena took a break from filming in the capital to make a surprise appearance in front of a capacity crowd trying their hardest to crumble the foundations of the arena upon hearing the opening horns of his entrance music. The 16-time World Champion quickly set about turning the decibel level up even further when he told the audience that they deserved to see WrestleMania on their shores, specifically in London.
And with each ‘Mania worth tens of millions to its host city and WWE currently in the midst of one of the most white hot periods of popularity in their history, shattering records left, right and centre (this year’s WrestleMania, in Philadelphia, destroyed records with the ease of Usain Bolt in his Olympic dominating prime), the idea of having the Grandaddy of ‘em All making the journey across the pond makes too much sense and money for it not to become a reality.
Over the past three years, Triple H and co have brought one stadium show and two further arena based Premium Live Events to the UK, in Cardiff, London and Glasgow, respectively. Each one of this trilogy has been a resounding success (despite some questionable main event booking in Glasgow, recently) and, with the nostalgia-laden memories of SummerSlam ’92 in the old Wembley still refusing to dissipate in the minds of so many wrestling fans, there has never been a better time to pull the trigger on a London WrestleMania.
Las Vegas has already secured the booking for WrestleMania 41 next year and Indianapolis has been promised a future ‘Mania, but there remains plenty of time for Khan to bring his bombastic election promise to fruition before the next election in 2028, with 2026 looking a likely contender (Minneapolis has bagged themselves a two-night SummerSlam in ’26, suggesting this may be to make up for the two nights of ‘Mania being transported to foreign shores for the year).
So, financial windfalls and current product popularity aside, why else does WrestleMania: It’s Coming Home edition need to happen sooner rather than later?
