AEW Confirms London, UK Show For 2023, BUT...

AEW will make its maiden United Kingdon voyage for a show in London sometime next year, though there's still no word on a date or venue.

That Tony Khan's promotion was heading to the British capital was announced on last night's Dynamite. Last Wednesday, Tony Schiavone claimed AEW would reveal more details on a UK-based event this week, though the announcement ended up being thinner on information than expected.

On top of announcing London, AEW confirmed debut shows in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, California on Dynamite. These events take place on 22 February and 1 and 3 March respectively.

AEW held its first show outside of the United States last month, debuting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with two nights of shows from 12 October. Beyond this, AEW currently has first-time shows in Seattle, Washington (4 January 2023); Portland, Oregon (6 January); Fresno, California (18 January); and Lexington, Kentucky (25 January) on its schedule.

Last week, the company's announce team touted Dynamite's recent ratings success in the United Kingdom while making the announcement. AEW's flagship show has been performing well on ITV4 lately, breaking its record viewership on several occasions - most recently a fortnight ago, when Dynamite hit 199,000 viewers compared to the previous record of 190,000 (22 August).

AEW Heading To The UK

AEW has long had plans to hold shows in the United Kingdom. The COVID-19 pandemic's 2020 onset forced the promotion to scrap its idea of holding that year's Fyter Fest show in Britain, as confirmed by founder and CEO Tony Khan, during his pre-Double Or Nothing 2020 media call. That pandemic-related travel restrictions lingered through much of 2021 and 2022 likely held things up further.

London's Craven Cottage stadium has previously been rumoured as a potential AEW venue. Home of Fulham FC, the Shahid Khan-owned English Premier League team, its listed capacity is 25,700, though this would likely be adjusted for a wrestling configuration.

Speaking with Inside The Ropes in February, Tony confirmed that bringing AEW to the Cottage has been a goal of his for a while:-

“I’m going to do my best to make sure that we get there soon—hopefully in 2022. I can’t promise it yet, but it has been a goal of mine to bring AEW to Craven Cottage. I hope that this is the year. They are two of my favourite things, Craven Cottage and AEW. I think they would go together smashingly. I think they would be a perfect combo. Whenever we do come to the UK, I look forward to bringing AEW to the Cottage.”

Expect a more detailed announcement on AEW's maiden Transatlantic voyage in the future.