WWE's premium live events strategy revealed

Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, is recently reported to have said that he is “looking to bring January’s annual Royal Rumble or WWE’s top event, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia.”

Dave Meltzer has provided further details of WWE’s PLE plans on Wrestling Observer Radio, saying:
“The original idea was to keep WrestleMania and Royal Rumble in the United States and Canada, and SummerSlam and Survivor Series probably too. But basically sell most of the other ones all over the world, like they just did with France and they’re gonna do with Germany and other places they’ve got all over the world. That’s the new model.”
“The old idea of marketing to the fans doesn’t matter anymore, it’s cool that they’re successful and selling lots of tickets but there’s no giant pressure to do so, and if/when they get cold it doesn’t matter, they’re not gonna struggle.
“The last UFC show I’m sure did nothing. The last WWE show, the show from France as far as interest levels with the public – got the Google number, got the PPV number, it’s very clear that this show for whatever reason, this show did not have much interest as compared to a normal WWE show.
“It doesn’t matter because they get paid the same, either way, as far as in Lyon, France they did a three million dollar gate and got a site fee. So even if they put on this five match show in the afternoon, obviously as compared to a norm show people are not watching it doesn’t matter because they’re fine anyway.”

While WWE Backlash was the “largest gate of any arena show in WWE history“, there were subsequent reports that “Lyon Metropolis nor the region’s authorities paid a site fee for the event.”
The May 4, 2024, edition of WWE Backlash marked the second time the PLE was held outside of the United States.
In 2023, WWE Backlash was hosted by Puerto Rico with it being reported that WWE was paid $1.5 million dollars to bring the PLE to the region.