WWE hit a home run with the 2023 edition of Backlash.
The show was a huge success as the company made their way to Puerto Rico for the first Premium Live Event after WrestleMania. Bad Bunny would compete much to the delight of the crowd, while Cody Rhodes would defeat Brock Lesnar in the main event of the show.
You can read the full WWE statement on the matter below.
WWE Delivers Record-Breaking Backlash in Puerto Rico
05/08/2023
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced that WWE Backlash, which emanated from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, became WWE’s highest-grossing and most-viewed Backlash in company history.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230508005412/en/
WWE DELIVERS RECORD-BREAKING BACKLASH IN PUERTO RICO (Photo: Business Wire)
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. Damien 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.
WWE
We will have to wait and see if WWE can continue this momentum into Night Of Champions later this month as the company returns to Saudi Arabia.
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