The Secret Link Between AEW & WWE Nobody Is Talking About

All In London already feels like an elusive cultural moment for All Elite Wrestling.

In a time where hobbies, interests and subcultures have never been more fragmented, it's particularly impressive that the group have captured something with more ambition that WWE dared achieve even with a healthy number attending Clash At The Castle in 2022.

The market leader knocked back the opportunity to run the show in favour of a Cardiff deal that worked out fabulously for everybody involved, but failing to capitalise on the sentimentality of SummerSlam's 30th anniversary was disheartening. Such is the way of a company that doesn't need to galvanise its support as they did back in 1992. SummerSlam's lasting legacy wasn't just one great night for Davey Boy Smith et al, but a footprint left behind in a monster market and generations of fans created in the process. AEW is doing the same thing three decades later.

Wembley's attendance will feature hardcores and casuals alike, as well as friends and loved ones of those that actually want to attend, and curious on-the-day floating voters and those that might just see an advert for the event that morning. It will temporarily grab England's capital city and own it like never before. It'll attempt to reclaim the shorthand for "wrestling" in its own image with the best possible visual accompaniment.

These are no longer conversations, ideas or thought experiments happening in America for AEW and Tony Khan, just as they weren't for WWE and Vince McMahon in 1992. Ignoring the laundry list of aesthetic, aural and direct financial benefits to feeding a starving audience with the best version of your product, Khan could do what McMahon was able to back then - make his show look like the biggest it's ever been. That stretches beyond amazing ticket sales, attendance numbers and maybe even incredible matches on the night.

That puts down foundations forever. "Challenger brand" might suit AEW domestically, but - like "the SummerSlam you thought you'd never see", All In will be an industry earthquake, a statement of intent, and 60,000+ memories made to last a lifetime. All Elite Wrestling has made waves learning from all of its opposition's mistakes in recent years. Now it's time to do the same with one of their biggest successes too.