AEW is Finally Going International, First Show Outside of US Announced

By Liam Crowley

All Elite Wrestling is making its long-awaited debut up north. As announced tonight on AEW Dynamite, AEW will head to Toronto, Canada on Wednesday, October 12 and Thursday, October 13. These future episodes of a live AEW Dynamite and a taped AEW Rampage will come from the historic Coca-Cola Coliseum, which has a capacity of nearly 8,000 for hockey games. This will be AEW's first venture outside of the United States since the company was incepted in January 2019. AEW President Tony Khan has long expressed interest in heading to markets like Canada and the United Kingdom, but the global pandemic slowed down international aspirations.

AEW shared the announcement on Twitter as well, highlighting that tickets go on sale at the end of August.

Khan recently spoke about AEW heading to Canada on the AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door media call, where he mentioned numerous Canadian cities he'd like to take his promotion to.

"I named some cities and, to be honest, I named cities based on some wrestlers that AEW has, stars competing here, where they hail from," Khan said. "That includes a lot of great wrestlers from around Toronto and Hamilton, and I will get to Alberta here in a second. Delta, British Columbia which is around Vancouver, Kyle O'Reilly is from the Vancouver area. I have to say when it comes to Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton would both be great homes for an AEW event. We've worked very closely with Dr. Martha Hart and the Owen Hart Foundation, and it was a real honor to have Dr. Martha Hart, and Oje Hart, and Athena Hart here in AEW, representing Owen Hart's legacy. I look forward to continuing working with the Owen Hart Foundation. It was a real pleasure to have Dr. Martha Hart working with us."

Khan doubled down on his ideas for an AEW event in Calgary, as he noted a fan-favorite Hall of Famer calls that city home.

"Speaking of Calgary and wrestling, the conversation has to have Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, arguably the greatest pro wrestler of all time and of course he's from Calgary, and he's the very first person ever to hold the AEW World Championship belt in his hands out on pay-per-view, on our very first show, Double or Nothing 2019," Khan said. "There's a lot of great wrestlers here in AEW who have a lot of respect for him, and I have a lot of respect for Bret. I think he's just a tremendous person and I really like him a lot in addition to respecting him as one of the best people to ever lace up the boots and work in pro wrestling. Bret 'The Hitman' Hart is somebody that's still very much in the conversation in AEW today, even though he's not somebody that actively wrestles or competes here. That is a testament to his enduring legacy."

While there are plenty more Canadian cities for AEW to visit eventually, fans can look forward to the company's debut in the six this October.

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