WWE continues to work on plans for a big return to Australia.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that WWE officials have been talking with their representatives in Australia to gauge interest in returning Down Under for a potential Premium Live Event.
This new report comes after the Wrestling Observer noted in April that WWE was negotiating with the state government of Western Australia to run a major stadium show. It was said that the deal would be similar to when the city of Melbourne made a deal with WWE twice to run stadium shows, one of which was the Super Show-Down pay-per-view. It’s believed that WWE would run the city of Perth, which hosted UFC 284 at RAC Arena in mid-February.
WWE CEO Nick Khan stated during the recent Q1 2023 earnings call that WWE is negotiating with local governments and tourism groups around the world about possibly receiving subsidies to run Premium Live Events in their markets. This trend began when the Welsh government paid WWE a significant sum to bring Clash at The Castle to Cardiff, Wales in September 2022. Khan made his recent comments when asked about officials in Puerto Rico paying WWE a seven-figure subsidy for Backlash.
“In terms of Puerto Rico and the subsidies, yes, I think we kicked it off with our show [Clash at The Castle] last Labor Day weekend in obviously, Wales, where there was what we believe to be a significant government subsidy for that event. We hit all the markers on it. And we’ve now started to replicate that, both domestically and continue to do so internationally. So Puerto Rico, we’re having conversations with a number of different cities in the United States and abroad in terms of what we can do.”
Khan made similar comments earlier in the Q1 2023 earnings call when making his prepared remarks.
“Looking ahead, the coming months are an exciting moment for our company as we embark on our biggest run of international shows in WWE history. This coming Saturday, Backlash will emanate from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Bad Bunny will compete in rang against Damien Priest, and what will be a completely sold out arena. We also received a seven-figure subsidy for this event. We are in a dialogue with a number of different local governments, tourism groups and event organizations about the economic impact of WWE when our events come to town. Look for more updates on this in the future as these conversations progress.”
The last major WWE event to take place in Australia was Super Show-Down 2018, which was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, headlined by a No DQ match between WWE Hall of Famers Triple H and The Undertaker, with The Game getting the win. WWE usually runs at least one main roster tour in Australia per year, but they have not been there since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WWE NXT ran its first-ever tour of Australia in 2016.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.