WWE Live Event in India in pipeline following SONY-ZEE merger

It’s been more than five years since WWE hosted a live event in India despite the fact that it possesses one of the strongest markets for the company let alone provides the largest TV viewership.

The Indian market remains very loyal to the WWE as it has won the hearts of the fans of the subcontinent through its larger-than-life TV characters, especially the old-school ones. This brings along a demand of seeing those names live-in-person.

Over the past several months, multiple reports came out informing that WWE was finally doing something to quench the thirst of their Indian fans by arranging a large-scale event.

Per the earlier reports, WWE Live India, a grand-scale show was supposed to take place on January 18th, 2023, at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad. However, the show was ultimately scrapped.

The company CEO Nick Khan addressed the topic of WWE hosting a show in India during the company’s recent 4th quarter 2022 financial earnings call.

Khan said that they are waiting for the Zee and Sony India (current broadcasting partner of WWE) merger to be approved before the large-scale event can become a reality.

Khan specifically mentioned April to have a tentative date for the discussed live event as WWE plans to rake in a strong viewership just like they did with their United Kingdom shows and the upcoming Elimination Chamber PLE in Montreal, Canada, “So as soon as we have a sense of when the regulatory approval happens on Zee and Sony India, look for a big live event in India. The best way to grow viewership, and I think we’re seeing it proven out with our UK shows, with the upcoming Montreal show, and in other markets, is to have live events there.”

Previous reports also claimed that WWE was looking forward to experimenting with potential TV taping opportunities in India so that they could possibly host Raw/Smackdown or even a premium live event in the country in near future.

That being said, it’ll be interesting to see if WWE intends to air the upcoming show for the Indian fans, unlike the previous house show outings which were untelevised events.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE had significant plans to expand into the Indian market with the NXT India launch. Nothing is set in stone regarding that but WWE did host a Superstar Spectacle on January 26, 2021, to cater to the Indian market.