London has been hailed by Tony Khan as the ‘sports capital of the world’ as Fulham’s director of football completes a personal treble by bringing All Elite Wrestling to Wembley Stadium.
The 40-year-old actor announced during AEW Dynamite — the promotion’s live show Wednesday night — that his first event outside of North America will take place at Wembley on August 27.
The ‘All In’ pay-per-views will take place in an environment familiar to Khan, who saw Fulham promoted to the Premier League after two home play-off wins.
Meanwhile, his NFL franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars, have played eight International Series games on the same turf and are back this year.
Fulham and the Jaguars are owned by Khan’s father, Shahid Khan, who came close to buying Wembley Stadium in 2018 before withdrawing his bid late in the process.
Now Tony Khan is preparing for his third adventure in the National Stadium, to fulfill his dream when he started his professional wrestling journey.
“I think London is the sporting capital of the world,” Khan told the Palestinian News Agency.
“It’s one of my favorite sports stadiums on the planet, in my favorite city on the planet, and for the centenary of Wembley Stadium, I thought that was a great ad for all of us in AEW.
“I have great memories of Wembley. Great memories with Fulham and also great memories with Jaguars sometimes.
“Bringing AEW there will be one of the biggest moments in my life personally. My family has a lot of good history there.
“I think the best moment of my life so far was probably when Fulham won the final in 2018 against Aston Villa and we celebrated as a family and we celebrated as a football club.
“I remember when I walked off the field with Aleksandar Mitrović, and we were saying this is the day we wish it could last forever.
“Now looking back, knowing that in about five years, we’ll be back in AEW All in knowing all the things that happened since then, to get to this point, I think that would be one of the biggest moments in AEW — my life.
“This is the moment I’ve been dreaming about in AEW since before we launched the promotion. It’s a dream come true.”
Since 1992, Wembley has not – in its previous format – hosted professional wrestling, with Cardiff Emirates Stadium and London’s O2 Arena having both been used in recent years.
But for Khan, there was only one place to run his wrestling promotion, which he launched in 2019 and sees him play practically every aspect of the company.
“I had two places I wanted to run AEW – Wembley Stadium and Craven Cottage,” he said.
However, I believe from the history of Wembley Stadium and the capacity for the event that Wembley is now the best venue for this event. Craven Cottage would present many logistical challenges for a wrestling show of this size.
“I definitely think it’s time for a major professional wrestling event to kick off from Wembley Stadium. It’s incredible that over 30 years have gone by, but I think the time is now.
“I think Wembley is the true embodiment of the best stadium, in the best city in the world. I’m amazed there hasn’t been any attempt to hold a major wrestling event there in decades.”
Khan also has no plans for this to be a solo show in the UK, as AEW’s audience continues to grow on ITV – which airs the company’s two weekly shows.
“I hope it’s very successful, and would love to come back,” he added.
“The Jaguars have a long-term commitment to Wembley and at Fulham we have great memories at Wembley.
“If this is the kind of success we hope it will be, we will certainly seek to build on it and come back.
“I hope we can build an event for London fans that they crave that is a perfect fit for the tremendous support from fans in the UK and the prestige of Wembley Stadium.”
:: AEW tickets: Tickets for All In London at Wembley Stadium on August 27th will go on sale on May 5th – UK fans can now pre-register for tickets at tickmaster.co.uk/AEWWembley.
London has been hailed by Tony Khan as the ‘sports capital of the world’ as Fulham’s director of football completes a personal treble by bringing All Elite Wrestling to Wembley Stadium.
The 40-year-old actor announced during AEW Dynamite — the promotion’s live show Wednesday night — that his first event outside of North America will take place at Wembley on August 27.
The ‘All In’ pay-per-views will take place in an environment familiar to Khan, who saw Fulham promoted to the Premier League after two home play-off wins.
Meanwhile, his NFL franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars, have played eight International Series games on the same turf and are back this year.
Fulham and the Jaguars are owned by Khan’s father, Shahid Khan, who came close to buying Wembley Stadium in 2018 before withdrawing his bid late in the process.
Now Tony Khan is preparing for his third adventure in the National Stadium, to fulfill his dream when he started his professional wrestling journey.
“I think London is the sporting capital of the world,” Khan told the Palestinian News Agency.
“It’s one of my favorite sports stadiums on the planet, in my favorite city on the planet, and for the centenary of Wembley Stadium, I thought that was a great ad for all of us in AEW.
“I have great memories of Wembley. Great memories with Fulham and also great memories with Jaguars sometimes.
“Bringing AEW there will be one of the biggest moments in my life personally. My family has a lot of good history there.
“I think the best moment of my life so far was probably when Fulham won the final in 2018 against Aston Villa and we celebrated as a family and we celebrated as a football club.
“I remember when I walked off the field with Aleksandar Mitrović, and we were saying this is the day we wish it could last forever.
Now, looking back and knowing that in about five years, we’re going back to AEW All through knowing all the things that’s happened since then, to get to this point, I think that’s going to be one of the biggest moments in AEW — my life.
“This is the moment I’ve been dreaming about in AEW since before we launched the promotion. It’s a dream come true.”
Since 1992, Wembley has not – in its previous format – hosted professional wrestling, with Cardiff Emirates Stadium and London’s O2 Arena having both been used in recent years.
But for Khan, there was only one place to run his wrestling promotion, which he launched in 2019 and sees him play practically every aspect of the company.
“I had two places I wanted to run AEW – Wembley Stadium and Craven Cottage,” he said.
However, I believe from the history of Wembley Stadium and the capacity for the event that Wembley is now the best venue for this event. Craven Cottage would present many logistical challenges for a wrestling show of this size.
“I definitely think it’s time for a major professional wrestling event to kick off from Wembley Stadium. It’s incredible that over 30 years have gone by, but I think the time is now.
“I think Wembley is the true embodiment of the best stadium, in the best city in the world. I’m amazed there hasn’t been any attempt to hold a major wrestling event there in decades.”
Khan also has no plans for this to be a solo show in the UK, as AEW’s audience continues to grow on ITV – which airs the company’s two weekly shows.
“I hope it’s very successful, and would love to come back,” he added.
“The Jaguars have a long-term commitment to Wembley and at Fulham we have great memories at Wembley.
“If this is the kind of success we hope it will be, we will certainly seek to build on it and come back.
“I hope we can build an event for London fans that they crave that is a perfect fit for the tremendous support from fans in the UK and the prestige of Wembley Stadium.”
:: AEW tickets: Tickets for All In London at Wembley Stadium on August 27th will go on sale on May 5th – UK fans can now pre-register for tickets at tickmaster.co.uk/AEWWembley.
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