For the Love of Wrestling is a

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

held annually in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England that celebrates the sport of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

, which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.

History and organisation

For the Love of Wrestling has been running since 2019 when Monopoly Events CEO Andy Kleek saw a gap in the market for a UK based wrestling fan convention after wrestling guests were extremely well received at other comic book conventions in 2018. The first two events took place in

Exhibition Centre Liverpool Exhibition Centre Liverpool is a multi-million pound exhibition centre, the latest addition to Liverpool event campus, alongside interconnected sister venues ACC Liverpool and M&S Bank Arena. History The 8,100m2 exhibition centre was constructe ...

while the last event in 2023 took place in Manchester. Monopoly Events is a Manchester-based event organization company that specializes in events held in the North West of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Along with the For the Love of Wrestling event, they are also responsible for organising

Comic Con Liverpool Comic Con Liverpool is a fan convention held twice a year in the city of Liverpool, England, attracting 48,000+ attendees across two large venues situated along the Liverpool waterfront, that celebrates films, popular culture, cult television, v ...

Comic Con Scotland Comic Con Scotland is a fan convention held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events. History and organisation ...

, Comic Con Wales, For the Love of Wrestling,

For the Love of Horror For the Love of Horror is a fan convention crossed with a haunted attraction held annually in Manchester, UK that celebrates the horror genre in various formats such as horror films, horror fiction, horror comics, horror video games, and horro ...

For the Love of Sci-Fi For the Love of Sci-Fi is a fan convention held annually in Manchester, England that celebrates the science fiction genre in various formats such as films, sci-fi fiction, comics, video games, and sci-fi cosplay which is organised by UK Events c ...

, Comic Con Manchester, For the Love of MMA,

Comic Con Northern Ireland Comic Con Northern Ireland is a fan convention held once a year in the city of Lisburn, near the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom attracting 18,000+ attendees across the large venue Eikon Exhibition Centre situated in Lisbu ...

and Comic Con Scotland Aberdeen with new events, Comic Con Northeast and Comic Con Yorkshire joining the fold in 2023 and plans for further expansion across the UK including into

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2024. The first For the Love of Wrestling in 2019 was extremely well received by the public for a first-time event, with approximately 20,000 visitors many of who were there to see the wrestler

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

, who was attending in his first ever UK fan convention appearance. The convention consistently includes guest appearances from well known professional wrestlers from different companies representing the sport like

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, TNA,

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

and others. Some guests are modern wrestlers who are still fighting to date such as Jungle Boy,

MJF Maxwell T. Friedman (born March 15, 1996), better known by his ring name Maxwell Jacob Friedman (often abbreviated to MJF), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AE ...

and Adam Cole while others are retired wrestlers such as Ted DiBiase,

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

and more.

Venue

For the Love of Wrestling began life at the

where it stayed for two years before moving to Bowlers Exhibition Centre, situated in Trafford Park,

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...

, Greater Manchester. The venue is also the site of many raves and music events including Sidewinder and Manchester Adored, conventions such as

and Comic Con Manchester, various food and drink expositions and regular

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

(MMA) events, darts championships and tours and other sporting events. It is also home to a gym with a boxing ring, a Caribbean themed cafe-bar and a fan-built replica of the

Mos Eisley Cantina Mos Eisley is a spaceport town in the fictional '' Star Wars'' universe. Located on the planet Tatooine, it first appeared in the 1977 film '' Star Wars'', described by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) as a "wretched hive ...

from the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

universe which doubles as a functioning bar and an escape room. The 2023 event shared the venue with another fan convention called For the Love of MMA, which had a smaller attendance, and less guests from the world of

. The MMA side of the event was situated in the smaller Trafford Arena 2 while For the Love of Wrestling took over a much larger area with a larger attendance, more stalls, guests a wrestling ring, sets and more.

Show features

Celebrity guests

As with many other

events, celebrity wrestlers from the past and present are regularly invited to For the Love of Wrestling, often around the time of a large Wrestling event in the UK, and are an extremely popular part of the event, posing for professional photographs with fans and providing autographs as well as giving fans the chance to meet them and chat in person. Monopoly Events is well known for bringing first-time guests to the UK, as with

in 2019 as well as older and retired wrestlers from past decades such as the 1980s and 1990s. Sometimes the celebrities involved will use their appearances to raise awareness and funds for a charity or cause important to them, while others use the opportunity to promote upcoming projects.

Celebrity panels

Most, if not all, of the celebrity wrestlers at For the Love of Wrestling appear on stage at some point throughout the course of the event, answering both host and fan questions alike. At the 2019 and 2022 events in Liverpool, the panels took place in the centre of the ECL hall in the form of a wrestling ring with seating around the edges. As of the 2023 event, with the move to Manchester, the ring is built in the main hall where anyone on the floor is free to attend the panels and large LED screens at the back of the stage are used to give visitors information and show previews of upcoming schedules as well as signage for the panels.

Celebrity meet & greet experiences

Some of the celebrity wrestlers agree to a 30-minute meet & greet experience, this experience is at an additional cost to the entry ticket, is much more intimate than meeting a guest at a signing table or photograph area, and takes place in a room away from the main event. During the experience the celebrity or celebrities will chat and mingle with up to 30 fans at a time, away from the louder main event crowds, sharing conversation and taking selfie photographs as souvenirs.

Photographs

For the Love of Wrestling includes a professional photoshoot area where fans can have their photo taken with their favourite guest or guests before collecting them at the exit of the area. Sometimes the photographs are taken in front of a screen and at other times a set or prop is used. Group photographs are also very popular, especially with tag teams such as The Nasty Boys and

The New Age Outlaws The New Age Outlaws were an American professional wrestling tag team in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) made up of "Road Dogg" Jesse James and "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn. The duo became popular in the late 1990s as members of the second incarnation ...

, some of whom are reunited for the first time in years to have their photos taken with fans.

Autographs

The event also includes an autograph area where wrestling guests sign items such as belts, posters and prints for the public and spend a few minutes chatting with their fans.

Prop and set exhibits

Monopoly Events is famous for providing a vast array of props and set builds for its visitors to enjoy, with For the Love of Wrestling being no exception, visitors can find exhibits such as Piper's Pit, the WWF Studio Desk, Brutus's Barbershop among others.

Retro gaming area

For the Love of Wrestling has a large area dedicated to

retro gaming Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the current playing and collection of obsolete personal computers, consoles, and video games. Usually, retrogaming is based upon systems that are outmoded or discontinued, alt ...

consoles for visitors to play vintage wrestling games.

Trader zone

Within the main hall, there is a large trader zone that contains many traders selling wrestling related memorabilia, replica belts, clothing and more.

Location, dates and notable guests

References

External links

*
Monopoly Events Official Website
{{Use dmy dates, date= November 2023 Fan conventions Recurring events established in 2019 British fan conventions Annual events in the United Kingdom Professional wrestling conventions