WWE are on tour in the UK this week and the talk of WrestleMania coming to these shores remains as hot a topic as ever.
British grappling fans have been dreaming of taking in professional wrestling’s biggest extravaganza on their own turf for decades, ever since the iconic SummerSlam was held at Wembley Stadium in 1992.
WWE stars like Bronn Breaker are currently touring in the UKWWE
Over 80,000 fans packed beneath the old Twin Towers to watch the British Bulldog defeat Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart to become Intercontinental Champion, a feat that’s arguably never been matched.
In recent years WWE have treated UK fans to some major epics – Clash at the Castle was held in Cardiff and Glasgow in 2022 and 2024 respectively, while London staged Money in the Bank in the years in between.
There has since been talk of another major show in the form of Elimination Chamber being held in England next year but, understandably, nothing matches the grandeur of WrestleMania.
The clamour for WWE to bring its blockbuster event across the pond was stoked further when John Cena appeared at the O2 during Money in the Bank to declare that the company should do just that.
In a new interview, current top champ, Cody Rhodes, has revealed that, to an extent, Cena went out on a limb in making such a proclamation – but says he’s very much on board with making it happen.
“‘Should it happen here?’ is a ‘Yes’. ‘Can it happen here?’ is believe is also a pretty adamant yes.
“When John Cena goes out and says: ‘Hey, we should have a WrestleMania come to the United Kingdom,’ at the time, I don’t know if that was on the books anywhere.
“I don’t know if that was something that had been – I don’t know where that was.
“But when the greatest of all time as we like to call John, goes out there and says it, it almost wills itself into existence.”
WWE’s current tour is now in full flow, with packed crowds watching Rhodes successfully defend his Undisputed Championship against rival Solo Sikoa in Cardiff and Liverpool, with dates in Newcastle and Manchester to come.
WWERhodes suggested John Cena may have put a cat amongst the pigeons with his WrestleMania announcement[/caption]
The company and its stars venture this way again in November, when Dublin, Ireland hosts the grunt and groan festivities before events in London, Nottingham and Sheffield.
The more a possible Mania in the UK is discussed, the more the debate naturally turns to which of those cities will get the incredible honour of staging the classic.
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium was a fine host of ‘Clash’ a couple of years ago, while many have urged WWE to follow rivals All Elite Wrestling in landing a show at Wembley Stadium, Tony Khan’s company having done so over the past two summers.
Rhodes namechecked a couple of cities in his BBC interview, adding Manchester into the mix.
WWE has a rich history in the city, having aired the first ever crowning of a WWE Champion outside of North America there in 2017. Pay-per-view events were also staged there during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“I’m very much looking forward to watching that situation unfold,” he went on to say. “Because I think it’s far more in the possibility realm than it was even a week ago.
“[I] know nothing, but if I’m aiming, it’d be cool to get it done in the next five years.
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H once did battle at a major Manchester eventWWE
“There are some really big venues over here that could host a WrestleMania… “I think American fans would jump at the chance to come to a WrestleMania [overseas], whether that that be in Manchester or London, I think they’d go nuts for it.”
The mention of Manchester is intriguing, with London thought to be a lock for a potential Mania given WWE President Nick Khan and Head of Creative Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque held talks with Mayor Sadiq Khan earlier this year.
