THE MCG could host one of the largest pro wrestling events of all-time, with WWE coming to Melbourne for a pay per view show in early October, reports the Herald Sun.

The report states that tourism body Visit Victoria will sign the contract shortly with an official announcement to be made at the WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 34, in New Orleans on April 8.

The pay per view show is set to be held the week after the AFL Grand Final, making the weekend of October 6-7 the likely date.

WWE’s pay per view schedule initially had shows on both October 1 and October 22 (Australian time); however the October 1 event, Hell in a Cell, was recently pushed forward to September 17.

A crowd of over 100,000 people could attend the MCG event, given the ground’s capacity and the likelihood seats would take up much of the surface, which would then make it the largest crowd to ever attend a WWE show.

The MCG is set to host a massive pro wrestling event. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: News Corp Australia

The largest crowds in pro wrestling history were for a two-night tour of North Korea in 1995 by US-based WCW and Japan-based NJPW, with claimed attendances of 190,000 and 150,000 for those shows at Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium.

To pack out the MCG a massive card would be needed, meaning part-time stars like John Cena would be likely to feature.

Former UFC star Ronda Rousey could headline having recently signed a WWE contract, with her first match planned for WrestleMania 34. Her loss to Holly Holm at Etihad Stadium in late 2015 drew a crowd of 56,214.

The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio were also named in the Herald Sun report. The former is 52 years old and wrestles essentially once a year, at WrestleManias, while the 43-year-old Mysterio is a free agent and could sign a deal with WWE in the coming months. He made a one-off appearance at the company’s Royal Rumble event in January.

John Cena would be likely to wrestle at the event. Source: Supplied

While WWE claimed that WrestleMania 32 at Dallas’ AT&T Stadium gathered an attendance of 101,763, even Vince McMahon has since admitted that number includes every person in the building, not just paying customers.

The true attendance is believed to be 93,730, still a WWE record. That surpassed WrestleMania 3 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan, which had a true attendance of around 78,000 and was headlined by Hulk Hogan v Andre The Giant.

WWE’s interest in bringing a major show to Melbourne in 2018 was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet in December.

That report said the event would be a sequel to 2002’s Global Warning Tour event held in front of 55,000 people at Etihad Stadium.

The Rock and Triple H in action at WWE’s Global Warning Tour event, held at Etihad Stadium in 2002. Source: News Limited

However that event drew incredibly well partly because WWE had not held a major show in Australia, a pro wrestling hotbed in the years before the 1990s boom for both WCW and WWE (then WWF), for years.

It was also promoted as Hulk Hogan’s debut in Australia, but the 1980s star quit WWE just prior to the show. It was headlined by a triple threat match between The Rock, Triple H and Brock Lesnar.

The event was barely mentioned in the United States, as compared to the 2018 event which as a pay per view would be heavily featured on WWE programming.

The Herald Sun report also stated that Melbourne and Sydney were in competition for this event.

There are a number of Australian wrestlers currently on the books of WWE.

Buddy Murphy, front, is an Australian wrestler currently plying his trade with WWE. Source: Supplied

Buddy Murphy, born and raised in Melbourne, is currently competing in a tournament for the Cruiserweight Championship. He won the tag team championship in NXT (WWE’s developmental brand) in 2015, and in doing so becoming the first Australian to hold a WWE championship.

Female pair Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, both from Sydney, are expected to move up from NXT to the WWE main roster soon.

Another Melbourne-born wrestler, Emma (real name Tenille Dashwood), was previously with the company before departing last October.

Two Australian women competed in the Mae Young Classic women’s tournament in the middle of 2017 — Adelaide’s Rhea Ripley and Gold Coast’s Toni Storm. The latter made the semi-finals of the tournament.