Returning to Wembley next summer on 30th August 2026, AEW will look to make their third Wembley event historic. After breaking the O2 Arena’s attendance record for the largest crowd for a wrestling event, could next year’s All In come close to or surpass 2023’s record figure? If AEW creative continues to create strong characters and engaging storylines, and the seeds planted at Forbidden Door grow, why not?
Ultimately, what underpins records and business metrics is we, the fans. It’s about us deciding to spend our money. In the UK, we are not starved for wrestling. Our indie scene is experiencing a resurgence, and counterprogramming in the Battle for Britain provides us with options.
What keeps AEW fans like me returning each year is being a part of something special. Matches that make us feel spiritual. Being part of a creative crowd and serenading Christian Cage with the question: Will you be my dad? Afterwards, in the subsequent hours and days, it’s reliving the memories and thinking ahead to the next nirvana-like peak on TV, PPV, and next year. It’s also referred to as “The Feeling”.
The future feels bright for All In 2026. However, All In could be the UK’s best wrestling event ever, even eclipsing SummerSlam 1992, if….
1) Keep Ignoring WWE. Keep Being Different
AEW’s focus on itself and its fanbase has seen more than a creative resurgence. Rebuilding and rewarding fan trust has strengthened the promotion and increased profits. Anecdotally, the momentum has seen new and/or frustrated WWE fans check out the alternative.
Keep tickets affordable. Year-on-year, I’ve paid less for each AEW London event we’ve attended. We picked seats further back and were rewarded with better views and not having to worry about feeling financially excluded.
Similarly, do not oversaturate the market. AEW’s winter return to the UK, to Manchester and then Cardiff, is great geographically and strategically. The Continental Classic offers a great USP for attendees and makes the round robin tournament truly international. Don’t do more!
Continuing support for the UK’s regional independents will be rewarded with fan loyalty. With Mercedes Mone as RevPro’s Undisputed Women’s British Champion and Nyla Rose as Pro Wrestling: EVE’s champion, having AEW wrestlers support and uplift the UK indies is the opposite of WWE’s NXT UK legacy.
2) Give Home Nations Wrestlers Earned Moments
Don’t just give home-nation wrestlers a spot on the card; give them moments that are earned and that feel significant.
Victories shouldn’t happen because it’s home turf. WWE’s UK and European shows historically embarrassed or gave token title victories to home nation wrestlers. Alex Windsor, Nigel McGuiness, and Michael Oku lost at Forbidden Door out of necessity for their storylines. Luckily, no one was forced to do karaoke with a boxer after losing the biggest match of their year!
Title wins must be about more than the pop or that temporary moment. Saraya won the AEW Women’s World Championship at the first All In, but the reign was short and the victory unearned.
If you are going to have Brits win, make sure there are stories in play and stakes. Perhaps…
3) Pay-off Long-Term Stories
Over the past three years, plenty of unique wrinkles and stories, some intended and some coincidental, have occurred in London. For many of these stories, Wembley 2026 would be a perfect time to pay them off.
Jamie Hayter missed three AEW London events because of injury. Although she has returned during the last two, a match next year has an in-built story. Hayter could have an injury scare, or her challenger could use this against the powerhouse.
If Mercedes Mone remains RevPro Undisputed Women’s Championship, facing Alex Windsor one-on-one could be a full-circle moment. It would allow Mone to have an intense match in the venue that helped convince the CEO to become All Elite.
After Daniel Garcia teased turning on Nigel McGuinness, perhaps Wembley 2026 is the sight of McGuinness’s last match? Or even after defeat on this year’s pre-show, Michael Oku returns and gets a victory over Ricochet and an AEW contract?
The biggest story will follow. Be patient.
4) Book Your Best
Being brutal, AEW UK PPV cards are restrained. On paper, the first All In was sold on one huge match and angle, and a house-show-like card. Yes, both Wembley shows overdelivered. Regardless, we get AEW less in the UK.
We still haven’t gotten a Kenny Omega singles match.
Nor a Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston, or Jon Moxley in singles contests.
Multi-man matches and plunder brawls have never been slop. Anarchy in the arena to the lights-out steel cage match brought unforgettable moments, spots, and brutality worthy of violent splendour. However, these plunder matches were often connective tissue in larger feuds. We’ve gotten great moments, but not the biggest ones.
After “AEW: All In” in Texas, if this is truly going to be the biggest, most important card of the year, treat it that way. Reward our loyalty with blow-offs and more dream singles matches. The most crucial being…
5) Crown Will Ospreay
AEW’s patience, build, and restraint in not making Will Ospreay the AEW Men’s World Champion was not an easy option. Ospreay’s evolution did not overshadow the rise of Swerve Strickland, and his endorsement of Page before All In Texas reflects how this version of Ospreay embodies the spirit of AEW.
Bruv is The Feeling personified. After writing Ospreay off so he can have surgery at Forbidden Door, August 2026 is the time and place to crown him. 26. This is AEW’s version of Cody Rhodes’ story.
Ospreay is not just a draw because of his wrestling. When the camera stopped rolling, only a few fans rushed out of the O2 to beat the traffic. Most of us stayed seated. Everyone waited to see if Ospreay was okay.
I decided to help my partner, who has coordination difficulties, down the steep stairs while we had the chance. I’m at the exit door, but she’s not there. She’s at the railings, staring back at the ring.
She told me she needed to know Ospreay was okay.
My partner is a casual fan at best. She knows it’s work, but she was worked into staying. She was genuinely worried for Ospreay. I had told her about Ospreay’s upcoming neck injury. She is invested in Ospreay, the wrestler, character, and person. So were thousands more.
It sets the stage for next August. There is nowhere better or more fitting for Ospreay to win the world championship. To usurp The British Bulldog and SummerSlam ’92 as the most significant moment in British wrestling history. Ospreay’s going to bring it home.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on AEW All In and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
