Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, claims he's 'dead keen' to bring WrestleMania to the city

With WrestleMania 33 already announced for April 2nd, 2017, in Orlando, Florida, cities around North America are already pitching bids to hold the event in 2018. The early frontrunner seems to be Philadelphia, which is believed to have made an aggressive bid for WrestleMania 34. However, a dark horse contender may have arisen from an unlikely source (or more likely, probably not).

That's because Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, claimed today during a Twitter Q&A that he was "dead keen" to land the wrestling extravaganza when asked about the possibility, albeit in a fashion that suggested he didn't really know what he was talking about:

@MayorofLondon Would you be open to FINALLY bringing @WrestleMania to London? Wembley deserves it! #AskBoris @WWEUK pic.twitter.com/M6OBjEtAbV

— Max Powley (@maxpowley) March 14, 2016

my gt grandfather was briefly a fairground wrestler so i am dead keen..grassroots sport benefited 400k since 2008 #askboris @maxpowley

— Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) March 14, 2016

As you can probably tell, Johnson is a colourful political figure who often hides his ruthlessness with bumbling, self-deprecating humour. Clearly, he was likely telling a potential voter what he wanted to hear, rather than this being a sign that he has genuinely attempted to bring WrestleMania to London. Indeed, he only has a couple more months in the job, with his sights set on bigger fish, namely leading the so-called Brexit campaign for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. That didn't stop parts of the British media from running with the story though for hits.

It's inevitable that one day WrestleMania will be held outside of North America, as WWE becomes even more of a global brand and less focused on their home market. However, that day doesn't appear to be coming very soon. When you can easily shatter gate records without stepping outside of your front door, there isn't much of an incentive to make history by moving the event overseas, especially as that would mean airing the event outside of its normal American time slot.