WWE is more popular now than it has been in several years and its hot streak continues with a first-of-its-kind partnership with the UK's iconic Manchester City Football Club.
Initially founded in 1880, the team is situated on the wider Etihad Campus with a footprint that includes the 53,500-capacity Etihad Stadium, the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium and City Football Academy, a state-of-the-art performance, training and youth development facility home to the Club's men's, women's and academy teams.
While this collaboration so far only includes some very cool crossover merchandise, we can't help but wonder whether it's leading to WWE potentially holding a UK PLE in Etihad Stadium. While it's not quite Wembley, a two-night SummerSlam would likely still break attendance records.
We'll see about that, but for football (or soccer) fans, this is an exciting team-up.
You can read the full press release below.
MANCHESTER CITY AND WWE LAUNCH EXCLUSIVE MERCHANDISE COLLABORATION
Manchester City and WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), have today announced details of an exclusive merchandise collaboration, that will see the two globally recognised brands featured together across a range of new products.
The new collection will include six T-shirts featuring Manchester City and WWE detailing, such as a CM Punk best team in the land and all the world T-shirt and other tee’s featuring Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin design inspiration.
As part of the collaboration, Manchester City and WWE have jointly designed a new name and number style that our players will wear in all of our games that we play during our preseason tour of America this summer. The design features the WWE logo within the number and a red outline.
Fans will be able to access the new range of t-shirts by visiting shop.mancity.com, WWEShop.com and Fanatics.com. Additionally, it will be available in the recently opened pop-up CityStore at Rockefeller Center, New York.
To celebrate the launch and ahead of WWE Friday Night SmackDown taking place at Madison Square Garden, WWE Women’s Champion Bayley and WWE Superstar Baron Corbin will be visiting the CityStore on 6th Avenue in New York on Friday 28th June between 10am and 11am for an exclusive meet and greet with fans. The Premier League trophy will also be in store on Friday and over the weekend.
Serena Gosling, Director of Integrated Fan Experience and Retail & Licensing at Manchester City, said: "We are excited to announce the launch of our exclusive retail collaboration with WWE today. As a club, we’re always exploring new ways to enhance our retail offering for our fans across the globe and collaborations like this with WWE are part of that ongoing strategy."
"In addition, today’s announcement offers a further touchpoint for our fans within the US and beyond to engage with the club, ahead of men’s first team visit this summer."