There have been many barriers in the way of professional sports events taking place with international travel being halted between the USA and UK over the last 18 months. Fortunately, that is all set to change now with the news that travel between the five nations is about to return to a much simpler form which means that international sport in all countries will be given the green light once more.
An encouraging example of this is former WWE star Tyson Fury making the trip from Manchester to Las Vegas to fight Deontay Wilder in the third installment of this thrilling rivalry in mid-October. The Fury vs Wilder odds predict that the Englishman will make the homeward journey across the Atlantic a happy man after being priced at just 2/7 to win. Crucially though, this particular bout in Sin City should clear the way for more transatlantic sporting showdowns to commence and all eyes will now be on which wrestling company will get to the UK first, AEW or WWE?
It should be pointed out that staging a wrestling event in the UK wasn’t ever an annual occurrence for either company but given how starved the world has been of sporting entertainment, there is a case to be made for breaking new ground by trying to tap into a new market. We’ve already heard noises from both the WWE and AEW that suggest this is exactly what they will try and do in 2022.
Indeed, Talksport was the first to break the news that the WWE is hoping to stage SummerSlam 2022 in Cardiff which would be a major coup for Vince McMahon. The 76-year-old CEO could go down the route of making the main event a thrilling match-up between two British stars, Drew McIntyre and Tyson Fury, which would undoubtedly pull in large audience numbers.
With this in mind, how would AEW and Tony Khan rival this in order to make sure that they put their flag in the ground first?
To start with, we know that Khan has already said that he would like to stage an AEW event at Craven Cottage, the home of Fulham Football Club. This would be made possible due to the fact that Khan’s father Shahid is the owner whilst Tony is a director at the club.
The catch is that the stadium is undergoing significant redevelopment that will only be finished in the summer of 2022 but in many ways, this is also ideal as the football season comes to an end at this time. This naturally opens the door for any off-season events to be staged at the stadium. It’s also worth noting that upon completion, the stadium will offer fans from both the soccer and wrestling world the chance to enjoy a spectacular night out on the river Thames in a ground that is fit to host any large-scale event. In other words, an AEW event at Craven Cottage wouldn’t fail to draw in a huge crowd given its grandeur and location.
As it turns out and after weighing up all the evidence, it looks like the earliest either wrestling company could make staging an event in the UK a reality is in the summer of 2022. This obviously means that UK wrestling fans could well be in for a treat or two should both the WWE and AEW make the trip over.
