After 13-yr hiatus, WWE LIVE events return to India

WWE LIVE will hold two live events in New Delhi at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on January 15 and 16 January. The announcement comes a couple of weeks after TNA Wrestling announced its first ever live event in India, to be held in December.

WWE has last held an event in India in 2003 and has now renewed its focus on the country as a live events destination. “The popularity of WWE has grown over the past few years and after cricket, it is among most watched sports in the country. For us, India is among the top three international markets along with the UK and Australia. Our largest fan base on social media comes from India. So it is logical that we want to expand the scope of engagement through live events,” says Gerrit Meier, WWE President, International.

One of the few international offices that WWE has is in India. While he refrained from giving actual numbers, Meier says that the spends towards these events will be significant. “According to the latest results, 40 per cent of our international revenues come from these three markets,” he adds.

A limited number of tickets will be available through a pre-sale from Wednesday, 4 November at 1 pm IST through Saturday, 7 November 11:59 pm. Remaining tickets will go on-sale beginning Tuesday, 10 November at 12 pm IST.  Tickets will be available online at www.in.bookmyshow.com. Ticket prices start at Rs 1,699.  

WWE superstars including John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Big Show, Sheamus, Cesaro and Ryback are expected to participate in the event. The event will be broadcast on Ten Sports, a part the TAJ Television Network under ZEEL.

“Ten Sports Network has been bringing WWE programming to fans in India for more than a decade,” said Rajesh Sethi, Ten Sports Network CEO. “We are excited to build on this partnership with WWE to bring live events to the fans.”