WWE is still working on plans for a major return to Australia.
According to a new report from Fightful Select, WWE officials have been in contact with their Australian representatives to gauge interest in returning to Australia for a potential Premium Live Event.
This new report comes after the Wrestling Observer reported in April that WWE was in talks with the Western Australian state government about hosting a major stadium show. The agreement was said to be similar to when the city of Melbourne struck two deals with WWE to run stadium shows, one of which was the Super Show-Down pay-per-view. WWE is expected to run the city of Perth, which hosted UFC 284 at the RAC Arena in mid-February.
WWE CEO Nick Khan stated on the company’s recent Q1 2023 earnings call that the company is in talks with local governments and tourism organizations around the world about receiving subsidies to run Premium Live Events in their markets. This trend began in September 2022, when the Welsh government paid WWE a significant sum to bring Clash at The Castle to Cardiff, Wales. Khan made 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 during his prepared remarks during the Q1 2023 earnings call.
“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 most recent major WWE event in Australia was Super Show-Down 2018, which took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne and was headlined by a No DQ match between WWE Hall of Famers Triple H and The Undertaker, with The Game winning. WWE usually has at least one main roster tour in Australia each year, but they haven’t been since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016, WWE NXT held its first-ever tour of Australia.
