WWE’s decision to stage WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2027 has created one of the more unusual scheduling questions professional wrestling has faced in decades. WrestleMania has long represented the centerpiece of the North American wrestling calendar in March or April, with promotions, independent companies, talent, fans, conventions, and media activity gathering around the event’s host city. The move overseas will alter that familiar dynamic, and it has naturally led to speculation about whether AEW could make a major play in the United States during the same period.
AEW has its own annual tentpole in All In, an event that has traditionally occupied an August position on the company’s schedule. The show recently returned to Wembley Stadium in London, England, marking its third Wembley presentation in four years. Given WrestleMania’s 2027 location and the potential gap it could leave in the U.S. market, some have wondered whether AEW might move All In to April and position it as an alternative attraction around WrestleMania season.
Jeff Jarrett does not believe that is necessarily the move AEW will make.
Speaking on My World, the WWE Hall of Famer and AEW personality said he is highly interested in how the 2027 landscape develops, but he pushed back on the idea that shifting All In directly into WrestleMania season is an obvious strategy.
For more background on this topic, read Seth Rollins Returns to the Ring at WWE’s Quito Live Event.
“I don't think that would be the play,” Jarrett said. “I'm very curious as things roll out and you hear rumblings, but I think there's a lot of buzz for the 2027 calendar.”
Jarrett’s point is not that the Saudi Arabia-based WrestleMania will be insignificant. WrestleMania remains WWE’s signature event and one of the biggest shows in the global sports-entertainment business. Instead, he sees the change in venue as something that could create broader questions for every major player, especially AEW. A WrestleMania held outside the United States does not automatically eliminate WWE’s domestic presence during that weekend, but it could affect the usual concentration of fan travel, satellite events, and wrestling-industry attention in an American host market.
For Jarrett, that makes the full-year placement of AEW’s largest show more interesting than a straightforward decision to run against WrestleMania. All In has developed a substantial identity of its own. It is not merely another pay-per-view on the AEW calendar, and its history has become closely connected to Wembley Stadium and the company’s international ambitions.
All In’s Place on AEW’s Calendar
All In carries unique weight for AEW because of both the name’s history and the scale the event has reached. The original 2018 All In was a landmark independent wrestling event that helped demonstrate the commercial appetite for an alternative major wrestling product. That show preceded AEW’s launch, but the event’s legacy has been woven into the company’s identity ever since.
Under the AEW banner, All In has grown into an annual stadium-level attraction. Wembley has been its defining venue, hosting the event twice before the latest return to London. AEW also took All In to Texas before coming back to Wembley, establishing that the event is capable of moving while retaining its status as the company’s biggest stage.
That history is central to Jarrett’s uncertainty about 2027. He noted that AEW has already presented All In twice at Wembley, took the show to Texas, and then returned to London. In other words, there are two separate questions facing the promotion: when the event will happen and where it will happen.
“The calendar of 2027 for everyone, all eyes on that,” Jarrett said on My World.
August has become the customary All In slot, but no public confirmation in the information available has established the event’s 2027 date or location. A return to Wembley would continue the tradition AEW has created in the United Kingdom. Another U.S. stadium destination could further reinforce that All In is a traveling flagship event rather than an annual London exclusive. There are also international possibilities that would fit AEW’s expanding global profile. At this stage, though, the company’s plans have not been formally laid out.
Moving the show from August into April would be a significant change regardless of any connection to WrestleMania. It would reshape AEW’s pay-per-view rhythm, alter the timing of its largest stories, and potentially affect the positioning of its other major events. It would also ask All In to build its identity in a different competitive environment, one in which WWE’s WrestleMania week has historically commanded extraordinary attention.
Why WrestleMania Weekend Still Matters
Even with WrestleMania itself taking place in Riyadh, the first overseas location in the event’s history, WrestleMania weekend will remain an important period for wrestling companies. For years, promotions outside WWE have scheduled shows around WrestleMania because the week brings together fans willing to travel and spend heavily on live wrestling. The independent scene, in particular, has benefited from the concentration of audiences looking for a packed schedule of events.
There has already been reporting that WWE expects AEW to have some kind of U.S. presence during WrestleMania weekend in 2027. That does not necessarily mean AEW would bring All In into that period. A presence could take many forms, from a major television event or pay-per-view to a smaller-scale branded show, fan-facing activity, or programming designed to capitalize on heightened general interest in wrestling.
WWE, meanwhile, has made plans of its own for the weekend. NXT Stand & Deliver and AAA Eternal Glory are scheduled for the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden over WrestleMania weekend. Those events demonstrate that WWE is not treating the Saudi Arabia location as a reason to step away from the U.S. market during one of the industry’s biggest annual periods.
The inclusion of AAA Eternal Glory is particularly notable because it reflects WWE’s broader relationship with AAA, while NXT Stand & Deliver has become a reliable WrestleMania-week staple. By booking both events at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, WWE has established a New York-based component to its WrestleMania-week plans even as WrestleMania itself heads to Riyadh.
That backdrop makes the idea of counter-programming more complicated than it initially appears. AEW would not be entering an empty domestic marketplace. WWE will retain a presence, fans will have choices, and the logistical realities of presenting a major event around an international WrestleMania are still unclear. There is also the question of whether a direct clash is the best use of AEW’s biggest annual attraction when All In has proven it can stand out in its own late-summer window.
A Year of Scheduling Questions
Jarrett’s comments reflect a wider uncertainty rather than a prediction that AEW will sit out WrestleMania season altogether. The 2027 calendar is unusual because WrestleMania’s historic move changes assumptions that have existed since the 1980s. Traditionally, a major wrestling event has occupied the U.S. landscape in March or April because WrestleMania was there. Now, companies will be evaluating what opportunities exist in America while WWE’s marquee show is presented abroad.
For AEW, the decision will involve more than responding to WWE. The company must consider venue availability, international strategy, television planning, pay-per-view spacing, talent travel, and the long-term identity of All In. Wembley remains a powerful symbol for the promotion, while the Texas edition showed the event can work beyond London. Any 2027 decision will carry meaning because it will indicate how AEW views All In’s future role.
A spring All In would be a bold departure and would guarantee comparisons to WrestleMania. Keeping the show in August would preserve the framework that has helped make it special, while leaving room for AEW to pursue a separate WrestleMania-week opportunity if it chooses. Jarrett’s view is that simply moving All In to replace WrestleMania’s usual U.S. slot should not be assumed to be the answer.
Until AEW announces its 2027 All In plans, the discussion will remain speculative. What is clear is that WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh has made the entire wrestling schedule more compelling to watch. The date and destination of AEW’s next All In, along with the company’s possible U.S. activity during WrestleMania weekend, will be among the key developments shaping an unprecedented year for major professional wrestling events.
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Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.