The Secret Link Between AEW & WWE Nobody Is Talking About

A stadium stampede of a different kind is happening in AEW, and look at what WWE could have won...

AEW All In UK 2023

It's victory laps all round when it comes to All Elite Wrestling's All In London event at Wembley Stadium, and rightfully so.

A single week of sales resulted in Tony Khan announcing 60,000 tickets sold, as other reputable sources counting the dots on Ticketmaster.com dared to suggest it might be even higher.

Capturing the spirit of the original All In in 2018, every little detail about the facts and figures was more captivating than the last, returning AEW to a vibe typically beyond replication years removed from its launch. The ceiling hasn't even been reached either, and with enough space for walk-ups on the day there's a possibility the show will sell out and/or reach capacity, etching it even deeper into wrestling history as one of the highest gates and biggest attendances of all time.

After a four-year wait delayed by the pandemic (Fyter Fest 2020 was later confirmed to have been pencilled in as a UK event before every show became a Jacksonville one), the payoff to months of speculation - and in some corners, doubt - was more spectacular, bold and grandiose than anybody could have forecast. A less-than-stellar "London 2023" graphic was rushed out following an equally-harried Tony Schiavone announcement on the November 9th Dynamite about exciting news for UK fans, and at no point did anybody think England's national stadium was on the table. But it was, it is, and will now be the destination for the closest the United Kingdom has come to having its own WrestleMania weekend without a WWE logo in sight.

An enormous and unthinkable gamble had paid off. But was it really that much of a gamble, or was noted wrestling megafan and historian Khan spotting a pattern between his challenger brand and the market leader?

CONT'D...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett