Wrestling
Three major British Wrestling shows were held at the venue between 1979 and 1981. The first of these on 13 June 1979 was headlined by a match between Big Daddy and Mighty John Quinn. The second, on 11 June 1980, was headlined by a tag team match pitting Daddy and Wayne Bridges against Quinn and Yasu Fuji. The last show, on 18 June 1981, was headlined by a match between Daddy and his longtime archenemy Giant Haystacks
The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) appeared at the venue during early 1990s tours of the UK, including one show on 2 May 1991, headlined by The Ultimate Warrior vs The Undertaker before an audience of 11,000. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF) taped its flagship television shows Raw and SmackDown! at the venue on 21 April 2006 and 22 April 2006 respectively. The company returned in October 2007 with the 'Survivor Series Tour'. Insurrextion 2002, which also emanated from this venue, was the company's last ever pay-per-view as the World Wrestling Federation; it was re-branded World Wrestling Entertainment just two days later on 6 May 2002. WWE are set to return to Wembley on 4 November 2012 for a SmackDown live event.
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) held the main London show of their Spring 1993 UK tour at the venue on 11 March 1993. The headline match saw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship change hands as Sting captured the title from Big Van Vader. The 11,500 attendance figure was WCW's highest ever up to that point. WCW returned to the venue in 1994 with a show headlined by a match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.
World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) held two events at the arena during their tours of the UK in 2001-2002. The first tour at the Wembley Arena show was held on 3 December 2001. At the second WWA tour the Wembley Arena show was held on 30 November 2002.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) held the final night of their UK Maximum iMPACT! Tour, on 24 January 2009, inside the Wembley Arena. On this night, the company set an all-time TNA attendance record of 8,100 fans. The venue would host the final nights of the tour in 2010 and 2011 just the same. On 28 January 2012 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held its first ever live recording of TNA Impact! outside North America at the arena in front of a TNA record setting attendance.
Read more about this topic: Wembley Arena
Famous quotes containing the word wrestling:
“We laugh at him who steps out of his room at the very moment when the sun steps out, and says: “I will the sun to rise”; and at him who cannot stop the wheel, and says: “I will it to roll”; and at him who is taken down in a wrestling match, and says: “I lie here, but I will that I lie here!” And yet, all laughter aside, do we ever do anything other than one of these three things when we use the expression, “I will”?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)