WrestleMania in the UK is the ultimate dream for wrestling fans, WWE’s Wade Barrett has claimed.
The idea of a WrestleMania in Britain has long been touted, with London’s Wembley Stadium often touted as the most likely host.
John Cena even appeared at Money in the Bank last year in London. He told fans he would like to see the event taking place in Wembley Stadium, an idea not totally shared by Triple H.
British politicians even got involved. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan vowed to bring the show to London in the future, although the event is all booked up untul at least 2026.
Wade Barrett recently spoke to The Ring Report about a potential WrestleMania event in the UK. The Englishman called it “the ultimate dream” for British wrestlers and fans like.
“WrestleMania in the UK would be the ultimate dream for all of us Brits who are associated with this industry. We clearly have the infrastructure. There are a lot of countries out there that we love going to, but you turn up and maybe the facilities aren’t top level. Maybe the roads, the hotels, maybe the building itself isn’t capable of hosting a top-level event like a WWE WrestleMania. In the UK, we already have that. We have everything in place that you can just sign the contract and get it done.”
“But I think more than anything else, I think we have this vocal fan base. And I would say it extends outside of the UK too. Even the French, as we saw in Leon at Backlash a few months ago, were absolutely wild. I think the Germans are going to be crazy. We do Berlin at some point in September, I think. So, I think the whole European or Western Europe fan base would descend upon somewhere like Wembley Stadium or Spurs Stadium or the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Principality as it’s called now and I think it would be huge. “
“Just the noise, the sound, and the passion that the fan base will have would make it a very special occasion. So, I hope it happens at some point. I’ve no doubt we’re going to get huge, huge premium live events over there. Whether it’s going to be at WrestleMania, I don’t know, but the way things are going at the moment. I think it’s increasingly likely that we could end up over there.”
Wade Barrett Thinks The Weather May Be An Issue For A Wembley Stadium WrestleMania
Wade Barrett did add that the biggest issue for WrestleMania in the UK is the weather. It is famously rainy most of the time in Britain, especially in April when WrestleMania is traditionally held.
Because of this, Wembley Stadium seems an unlikely host for the event. Wade Barrettt thinks that a stadium with a retractable roof, like the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, may be the best option for the event.
“Wembley would be fantastic. I would say we’re kind of hampered in some ways in the UK because of our weather. We always have to take into account the roof situation. So, we just had a clash at the castle in Glasgow, which is a fantastic arena. We went to the OVO Hydro up there, about 12 or 13,000 capacity. In truth, we could have sold a lot more tickets and one of the journalists that was up there asked the question, how about next time you come to a bigger stadium like Murrayfield or an Ibrox? All great in theory until you realize that we spent three days in Glasgow in summer and it rained non-stop every single day. And the problem with Murrayfield and Ibrox and places like that is they just don’t have roofs.”
“I feel like wherever we go probably needs a roof. I know it rains a little less in London, that might be the one sticking point with Wembley but obviously, the Spurs stadium and even the stadium in Cardiff may be better options, we’ll see. But there’s a historic pool in Wembley that I would like to go to, but there’s no doubt about it. If it rained for an entire show and we’ve got fans sitting there for four hours in the downpour, which is always potentially going to happen, even in the middle of summer, they will kind of put a dampener on things, so who knows?”
Cardiff previously hosted the first Clash at the Castle event in 2022, so they are fully capable of hosting WrestleMania in the near future if needs be.
Wembley Stadium Match Would Bring Wade Barrett Out Of Retirement
If WrestleMania does come to the UK, it could tempt Wade Barrett out of retirement.
In the same interview, he revealed that a match against Drew McIntyre at Wembley Stadium could tempt the former Nexus leader out of retirement for one more bout.
“If I could have one match for the remainder of my days on this planet… It would absolutely be me against Drew McIntyre at Wembley Stadium…” Wade Barret said. “If they dangled that in front of me at any point in time, yeah, absolutely. I’m coming back and I’m having that match sold out at Wembley Stadium. But that is a bit of a pipe dream.”
Wade Barrett’s last match was in 2024, so he’d likely be a decade out of the ring if he does get that bout. This is similar to Nigel McGuinness, who was ten years from his final match when he prepared to face Bryan Danielson at All In last year.
