For the Love of Wrestling

For the Love of Wrestling is a fan convention held annually in Manchester, England that celebrates the sport of professional wrestling, 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 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 and Scotland. Along with the For the Love of Wrestling event, they are also responsible for organising Comic Con Liverpool, Comic Con Scotland, Comic Con Wales, For the Love of Wrestling, For the Love of Horror, For the Love of Sci-Fi, Comic Con Manchester, For the Love of MMA, Comic Con Northern Ireland 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 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, 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, TNA, WCW and others. Some guests are modern wrestlers who are still fighting to date such as Jungle Boy, MJF and Adam Cole while others are retired wrestlers such as Ted DiBiase, Bret Hart and more.

Venue
For the Love of Wrestling began life at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool where it stayed for two years before moving to Bowlers Exhibition Centre, situated in Trafford Park, Stretford, Greater Manchester. The venue is also the site of many raves and music events including Sidewinder and Manchester Adored, conventions such as For the Love of Horror, For the Love of Sci-Fi and Comic Con Manchester, various food and drink expositions and regular boxing and mixed martial arts (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 from the Star Wars 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 mixed martial arts. 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.

Celebrity guests
As with many other fan convention 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 The Undertaker 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, 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 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.