WWE’s return to India is more about big business than selling tickets.
Professional wrestling is currently hotter than it’s been for a number of years with two companies breaking record after record. With AEW selling more than 80,000 tickets for All In at Wembley Stadium and WWE shifting more than 90,000 for WrestleMania 40, the industry as a whole is flying high.
As a result, some eyebrows were raised when WWE announced that Superstar Spectacle would be taking place in India on September 8th at a venue that holds only 5,000 fans.
However, it seems there are bigger plans at play. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the show isn’t simply about selling tickets it’s about building business relationships.
“This is another one of those shows where WWE is being brought in by [the business partners]. They have been wanting to do this big show, it is basically a television event in India. The building itself is like 3,500-4,000 seats for the setup, it’s a 5,000-seat building. It’s not about drawing a big crowd or anything like that or big money from the fanbase.
But it is a big show that the business partners are bringing them in and it’s going to be a primetime special. It was something that was planned months ago, but it was delayed because they were waiting for the merger to go through with Sony 6. It’s going to be heavily using Sanga and Veer and Jinder Mahal.”
Does WWE Have A Deal With India?
WWE has held live events in India on a number of occasions, but things were set to go up a gear in 2020 when the company signed an extension to its deal with Sony Pictures India. The deal was set to involve bigger events and Superstars heading to the country for promotional tours.
This led to the creation of Superstar Spectacle in January 2021, but the event was filmed at the ThunderDome due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Khan has previously discussed WWE’s desire to hold events in India moving forward.
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