On May 6th WWE headed to Puerto Rico for the first time since 2005 for Backlash.
The event featured a stacked card with a number of the company’s biggest Superstars and they were roared on by a capacity crowd at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan.
The event was headlined by the bloody clash between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar, while Zelina Vega was greeted as a returning hero for her match with Rhea Ripley. Vega was visibly emotional in the ring and fans cheered for her long after the final bell sounded.
Elsewhere Bad Bunny went to war with Damian Priest in a match that featured run-ins galore against the backdrop of one of the wildest atmospheres seen at a WWE event in years.
Outside of the ring, it appears that the event was also a huge success.
In a new press release, WWE announced that the show was the highest-grossing and most-viewed Backlash in history. You can find a section of the press release below.
Viewership of Backlash saw a 28 percent increase versus the record set in 2022. The event, which featured Bad Bunny, the most-streamed music artist in the world, marked the largest gate ever for any WWE event held in Puerto Rico and the largest gate in the history of Backlash.
More than 34,800 fans descended on San Juan, Puerto Rico, for back-to-back sellout nights of SmackDown (16,896 attendees) and Backlash (17,944 attendees). It also marked the most social Backlash of all-time, led by over 40 million views of the San Juan Street Fight featuring Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest. The hashtag #WWEBacklash, accompanied by a custom Bad Bunny emoji, trended No. 1 across the entire evening of sports.
In addition, Backlash broke merchandise and sponsorship records. As the first-ever WWE event under the expanded partnership with Fanatics overseeing the on-site event retail experience, top-selling items included the WWE Backlash and LWO Puerto Rico t-shirts. Sponsorship revenue surpassed any Backlash event in history, breaking last year’s record with a 98 percent year-on-year increase through partnerships with Netflix’s FUBAR, Mike’s Harder Lemonade and Xfinity.
Bad Bunny Stars At WWE Backlash
Since the event it has been reported that the match between Bad Bunny and Damian Priest was received especially well backstage. One report claimed that management was “ecstatic” with the bout, while another suggested that WWE is hopeful the Hip Hop star will be able to feature at SummerSlam in some capacity.