WWE Superstar Spectacle returns to India on September 8, 2023 for the first time since 2017 at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium (Gachibowli Indoor Stadium).
The show will not be broadcast on either Peacock or the WWE Network. Instead, this will be a local show hosted by WWE’s local broadcast partner, Sony Sports Network.
John Cena, Seth Rollins, Rhea Ripley, Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens, Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER, Jinder Mahal, Veer, Sanga, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch, Natalya, Matt Riddle, Ludwig Kaiser, and others are scheduled to appear.
Dave Meltzer discussed the event and the importance of the India market to WWE, as it is their second largest TV revenue stream, after the US, on Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Yeah, the partners, this is another show where WWE is being brought in. They’ve been wanting to do this big show, it’s basically a television event in India. The building itself is like 3500-4000 seats for this setup. It’s a 5,000 seat building. It’s not about drawing a big crowd, or anything like that, like big money from the fanbase, but it’s a show that their business partners in India are bringing them in, and it’s gonna be a primetime special I think on Sony Six. It was something that was planned months ago and delayed because they were waiting for a merger to go through that has since gone through with Sony Six. It’s gonna be heavily using Sanga and Veer and Jinder Mahal.”
Meltzer also discussed the original idea of having a large stable of Indian wrestlers years ago because of WWE’s popularity in the market, despite the fact that tickets are difficult to sell in the country.
Meltzer later added, “They [WWE] make more money on television in India than anywhere but the United States. They make more than Canada. More than the UK, I think Canada’s number 4, UK’s number 3, India’s number 2 as far as the money that they make off of the television. It’s a very important market for WWE, but not a market that they can run a whole bunch of shows in like they can in Canada or the UK.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
