AEW's biggest show of the year returns to the United Kingdom this summer as All In London once again takes place at Wembley Stadium on August 30, marking the third time in four years the company has run the iconic football venue. There is always talk regarding ticket sales when it comes to All In, and in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer broke down the opening day ticket sales, how many people are expected to attend, and what fans who do attend could see close the show.After the first day of general public sales and all the pre-sales had wrapped up, All In London 2026 sold or distributed 19,883 tickets, a number that has since jumped to 21,141 tickets as of March 27 according to WrestleTix. While that number is not one to be laughed at, Meltzer admitted that comparing the opening day sales of the 2023 and 2024 events could lead to some worrying signs. Meltzer noted that no one is expecting AEW to hit the lofty heights of selling 81,035 tickets like what happened for the 2023 event, but the opening day sales of that show were in the 60,000 range, and the 2024 show had sold just under 34,000 tickets on the opening day.The company is hoping to draw numbers similar to the 2024 event, which sold over 53,000 tickets, particularly with Will Ospreay back in action and the company seeming to be on the upswing in terms of momentum, but tracking buying patterns, Meltzer doesn't see AEW getting near the 2024 numbers. In fact, he believes that 35,000 paid attendees would be what the company should expect, especially considering that tickets are much cheaper than 2024 and the numbers are nowhere near where they were two years ago. Meltzer also noted that AEWdecided to run The O2 Arena for last year's Forbidden Door pay-per-view, and while that show did eventually sell out, that wasn't until the day of the show, and if AEW aren't in a position to sell out The O2 Arena ahead of time, Meltzer doesn't see running Wembley Stadium as the best idea, regardless of how impressive selling 35,000 tickets might be for a company not named WWE.
As we all know, if AEW hits on a hot angle or books a must-see match, those ticket sales will likely be a lot higher than what Meltzer is predicting. That then leads to the big question of what match will main event the show? Now that he's back in action, all signs point to Will Ospreay not only being in the main event, but also challenging for the AEW Men's World Championship. As for who Ospreay could face, two names are currently leading the race.MJF will defend the AEW Men's World Championship against Kenny Omega at Dynasty on April 12, with the winner of that match looking to be the man who will main event Wembley Stadium. Picking between MJF and Omega is interesting for Meltzer because they both have pros and cons. Meltzer mentioned that a lot of the core AEW fanbase are leaning more towards Ospreay facing Omega, with the two men already having two matches under their belt in recent years, and a trilogy match taking place on AEW's biggest stage makes a lot of sense. Plus, the matches at Wrestle Kingdom and Forbidden Door 2023 are considered to be two of the best matches of the 21st century by those fans.On the other hand, Meltzer feels like AEW's business is improving so much that it almost feels too early to take the title away from MJF at this point, and perhaps shifting the title away from MJF in the summer might create more excitement if that's the direction AEW want to go in. Ospreay and MJF did face each other at Wembley Stadium in 2024, albeit with MJF's AEW American/International Championship on the line, so the idea of running it back for the top prize in the company is one that could make more sense business wise.Overall, Meltzer understands that AEW will go with whatever the company believes will shift more tickets and tell a better story. Omega has not wrestled a major singles match at Wembley while MJF has main evented the show before, and with Omega's life-threatening battle with diverticulitis still not fully explored, all eyes will be on the main event of Dynasty to see what happens next.
