Apparently, WWE won't be doing the Backlash ppv this year. According to reports, it's been cancelled in order for WWE to run its next show in Saudi Arabia.
Backlash was scheduled for June 16th while the Saudi show is scheduled for June 7th and WWE felt that the shows were too close together in order to have them both and decided just to have the Saudi show instead. The reason WWE is keeping the Saudi show is because it's a massive payday, allegedly a payday that exceeds what WWE makes for WrestleMania.
I know lots of people are up in arms about WWE's business dealings with Saudi Arabia but if there's a silver lining to this, it's that WWE won't be making the same mistakes as they did last year while trying sometimes trying to promote two or, sometimes even three, shows that take place within a six week period. The result of doing what was a bunch of shows that ultimately didn't get the build that was needed and such an oversaturation of content that it simply made fans not really give a shit.
Of course, the downside is that WWE's Saudi shows thus far have flat out sucked. They've not only been glorified house shows, but they've been dull, lazy and uninspired glorified house shows; if that's what the next Saudi show is ultimately going to be, then this is nothing more than another throwaway show that ultimately won't mean a thing to WWE at large.
Reply With Quote