Despite being starved of top-class wrestling for decades, the United Kingdom remains a huge market for professional wrestling.
A fan base has sustained over the years, fed from local indie wrestling and late-night programming from the WWE in the United States.
In recent years, AEW have become the most popular promotion in the company, the American company taking over from the likes of ICW and PROGRESS.
All Elite Wrestling are set to bring their All In show to the UK, filling Wembley Stadium for a show that will become the UK’s biggest wrestling crowd ever (and maybe the biggest in the entire world).
Multiple companies have put on huge pay per view events in the UK in recent years.
Top companies like AEW, WWE and NJPW have come to this country to put on their shows, to much critical acclaim from the wider wrestling world.
In this article, we’ll go through the best wrestling shows to take place in the UK, ranging from promotions from the UK, Japan and The United States.
Best UK Wrestling Pay Per Views
5. NJPW Royal Quest
Japanese giants New Japan Pro Wrestling brought their incredible product to the UK in 2019, headlined by an incredible World Championship match in the main event.
Kazuchika Okada defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Royal Quest, beating Minoru Suzuki in an incredible 33 minute match.
Other bouts saw Hiroshi Tanahashi win the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship from Zack Sabre Jr, as well as appearances from Bullet Club, KENTA and Will Ospreay.
4. ICW Fear & Loathing VIII
Headlined by the incredible Grado vs Drew McIntyre world championship match, ICW Fear & Loathing VIII put on one of the best shows the UK has ever seen.
Nearly 5,000 fans paid to see the show at Glasgow’s SECC Arena, making it one of the biggst non-WWE shows in UK history.
Featuring a host of special guests, including Rhyno and Mick Foley, the show promised to bring a new peak of British wrestling back to the public.
Sadly, WWE, speaking out and the pandemic put an end to that, but for a brief, glorious moment, wrestling was back in the UK.
3. WWE Money In The Bank 2023
With a shocking appearance from John Cen and an amazing main event, Money in the Bank 2023 turned out to be one of the best shows the UK has ever seen.
It featured two amazing ladder matches (featuring fan-favourite LA Knight), as well as a host of fantastic bouts involving some of WWE’s top stars.
The main event of Money in the Bank 2023 saw The Bloodline finally implode, as The Usos beat Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa in one of the matches of the year.
You can read all about Money in the Bank 2023 by clicking this link.
3. Summerslam 1992
Despite a downturn in the business in the USA, WWE had huge success with their first ever UK stadium show in 1992.
The company brought Summerslam 1992 to Wembley Stadium, cramming 70,000 fans into the legendary football stadium.
The show was one of WWE’s best pay per views ever, especially with the incredible main event.
In the last match on the card, the British Bulldog beat Bret Hart to win the Intercontinental Championship to one of the biggest pops of all time.
2. WWE Clash At The Castle 2022
30 years after Summerslam 1992, WWE announced they were bringing a pay per view back to the UK.
While they had some small-scale shows in the late 1990s/early 200s, they had neglected to run a single stadium show in this entire time.
However, with Drew McIntyre basically begging for it for years, they finally announced Clash at the Castle to take place in September 2022.
It took place in Cardiff, Wales. The city was chosen due to the ease of access of the Principality Stadium (called the Millennium Stadium by anybody from Wales), which lies in the city centre.
The Stadium is the only one in the UK to have a fully-retractable roof, meaning that the typical British weather would not be an issue for the WWE.
The show was fantastic, and drew 58,000 paid fans to the event. The main event saw Drew McIntyre lose to Roman Reigns, thanks to interference from Solo Sikoa (sound familiar?).
Despite the disappointing end, it was a great show that laid the groundwork for more pay per view events to take place in the UK.
1. NXT UK Takeover Cardiff
The best wrestling show in British history has to be the NXT UK Takeover Cardiff event.
It was the first time WWE had brought a televised program to Wales, and the Cardiff fans were so excited that they did not shut up all night.
An incredible atmosphere was followed by some equally incredible matches.
Two of the best matches in WWE history took place at the event. The first was the tag team title match, where Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster became the first every Welsh champions in WWE history.
The second was the main event, where Tyler Bate wrestled WALTER for over 45 minutes, in an attempt to win the NXT UK Championship.
It was a wonderful night for wrestling, and something AEW’s All In will need to work hard to beat to become the best British wrestling event of all time.