WWE Says COVID, Other Factors Slowed Down Involvement In India

As WWE prepares to head for Puerto Rico for Backlash this Saturday, the company's interest in international expansion has clearly never been stronger, and one country the company has always had an eye on is India. On Wednesday's Q1 earnings call, WWE President Nick Khan revealed what has kept the company's operations out of India in recent years, but indicated those barriers will soon come down.

"The gating factor on India was COVID," Khan said. "As you know, very difficult to get in and out of India during that period of time, which paused our efforts there. Those have been unpaused."

Khan also referenced the upcoming merger between Sony India and the Mumbai-based Zee Entertainment Enterprises, and stated that WWE is currently focused on domestic media rights while waiting for that deal to be approved.

"We're in constant dialogue with Sony often, so we feel good about where that is," Khan said. "We feel good about where it can go to with them and beyond."

Back in December, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that a WWE live event rumored to be taking place in India in January 2023 had been put on hold  due to the Sony/Zee merger. At the time, the merger was expected to be finalized in April 2023, but on the earnings call, Khan indicated that it was still awaiting regulatory approval, and suggested a significantly longer timeline. "That deal is not up until later in 2024, if I'm remembering correctly," he said.

WWE has not made a trip to India since 2017, when current WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque defeated former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. Mahal is set to make his return to "WWE Raw" following Backlash as part of the group Indus Sher, who were called up from "WWE NXT" in the recent WWE draft.