Bad Bunny held Puerto Rican WWE fans in the palm of his hands this past Saturday night at Backlash as he waged war against The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest. Bunny did not come alone, either, because as soon as Priest’s Judgment Day backup began to make their presence known, the LWO, Carlito, and even Savio Vega came to his aide, helping him pick up a victory.
The night was capped off by a bloody brawl between Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes, which The American Nightmare eventually won. Overall, WWE’s return to Puerto Rico was reportedly considered a big success internally, with everyone enjoying the crowd, experience, and publicity generated.
Haus of Wrestling was sent the following press release by WWE this morning touting many of the successes from the weekend.
WWE® DELIVERS RECORD-BREAKING BACKLASH IN PUERTO RICO
STAMFORD, Conn., May 8, 2023 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that WWEBacklash®, which emanated from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, became WWE’s highest-grossing and most-viewed Backlash in company history.
Viewership of Backlash saw a 28 percent increase versus the record set in 2022. The event, which featured Bad Bunny, the most-streamed music artist in the world, marked the largest gate ever for any WWE event held in Puerto Rico and the largest gate in the history of Backlash.
More than 34,800 fans descended on San Juan, Puerto Rico, for back-to-back sellout nights of SmackDown (16,896 attendees) and Backlash (17,944 attendees). It also marked the most social Backlash of all time, led by over 40 million views of the San Juan Street Fight featuring Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest. The hashtag #WWEBacklash, accompanied by a custom Bad Bunny emoji, trended No. 1 across the entire evening of sports.
In addition, Backlash broke merchandise and sponsorship records. As the first-ever WWE event under the expanded partnership with Fanatics overseeing the on-site event retail experience, top-selling items included the WWE Backlash and LWO Puerto Rico t-shirts. Sponsorship revenue surpassed any Backlash event in history, breaking last year’s record with a 98 percent year-on-year increase through partnerships with Netflix’s FUBAR, Mike’s Harder Lemonade, and Xfinity.
Stay with Haus of Wrestling for all the latest regarding WWE Backlash