WWE Backlash has officially come and gone. Jinder Mahal is the new WWE Champion and the wrestling world is still in shock over what happened. The entire Pay-Per-View was mediocre with plenty of highs and lows throughout.
So how were the tickets sales for Backlash, in the WWE hotbed of Chicago?
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio (subscribe here), Backlash did NOT sell out. This was especially surprising considering Chicago is usually one of the hottest markets that WWE has.
Meltzer says that ticket sales started off hot and stalled significantly after matches were announced for the event.
He also mentions that WWE priced tickets fairly high for the event so that played into it. The Pay-Per-View likely still had a solid gate amount even without selling out completely.
We can assume that this drop in ticket sales had to do with the main event of Jinder vs Orton. Meltzer notes that WWE is going all in on their expansion into India and only time will tell if this pays off. The WWE only makes money off their television deal in India right now. Putting the title on Jinder is likely a play to make more money from the country in things like merchandise sales and Network subscribers.
As a result, it is a weird time where WWE might be willing to take the short-term hit in viewership and ticket sales in the United States if it means long-term success in India.
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