Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has further committed to his promise of delivering WrestleMania to the capital after holding talks with World Wrestling Entertainment chief content officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
Before his re-election in May, Khan posted on social media that he wanted to go “even further” in making London the “sporting capital of the world”.
That included suggestions he would deliver the Super Bowl, the 2040 Olympics and WWE’s showpiece premium live event, WrestleMania.
After his initial message on X, Levesque replied simply: “Let’s talk.”
Those conversations began at City Hall on Thursday afternoon as Levesque, a former WWE wrestler who was world champion on 14 occasions, sat down with Khan – who is looking to add to the recent sporting successes in London.
“I’m really excited to have begun conversations about bringing international WrestleMania to London,” Khan told the PA news agency.
“I know there are many fans in London and across the UK and Europe who are desperate to see WrestleMania live.
“I think London is the sporting capital of the world. We’ve had great events this year, from Major League Baseball, American football, we’ve had Wimbledon, we’ve had Queens, we’ve had Diamond League athletics.
“We’ve had a Test match at Lord’s, another one coming up at The Oval. We’ve got the [Anthony] Joshua fight taking place at Wembley in September. So I’m really keen to get WrestleMania here too.”
The previous 40 incarnations of WrestleMania have all taken place in North America, with 38 in the United States and two in Canada.
However, WWE has branched out in recent years and started to take its premium live events – the name of its larger, monthly shows – across the world.
Cardiff and Glasgow have hosted ‘Clash at the Castle’ events while the ‘Money in the Bank’ show took place at the O2 last year.
Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and France have also staged shows, while Germany will host ‘Bash in Berlin’ in August.