The WWE Backlash France 2024 Premium Live Event garnered mixed reactions from fans, with some expressing disappointment over what they perceived as a lackluster lineup. This sentiment was echoed in the business metrics surrounding the event, indicating potential challenges for WWE in engaging its audience.
Taking place at the LDLC Arena in Lyon-Decines, France, the event’s headline bout featured Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes facing off against AJ Styles. Despite the star power of the main event, concerns lingered regarding the overall appeal of the card.
The Wrestling Observer highlighted fan interest in various metrics tracked by WWE, including Google searches, traditional pay-per-view buys, and the subsequent ratings of WWE programming following the event. These metrics indicated a less-than-stellar performance for Backlash France compared to other WWE B-level PLEs.
The aftermath of Backlash France was felt particularly in the ratings for RAW, which experienced a decline in viewership for its fallout episode. Drawing 1.62 million viewers with a 0.53 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, RAW faced stiff competition from NBA and NHL playoff broadcasts.
Additionally, Backlash France reportedly recorded the lowest PPV buy number in WWE history (yes, some fans still purchase the traditional pay-per-views for WWE). While it’s worth noting that a significant portion of WWE’s audience accesses events through streaming platforms like Peacock in the US and WWE Network internationally, the traditional PPV buys for Backlash were way down from what Elimination Chamber 2024 in Perth, Australia drew.
Here’s what The Observer reported:
“So for the pay-per-view, the Google searches were the lowest of any WWE pay-per-view that I’ve ever seen, was 100,000. The first-week number, it’s going to grow. But as far as the first week’s number was concerned, it was 3,700 (PPV buys), which is for a WWE pay-per-view. It’s like, whatever, financially, a WWE pay-per-view number doesn’t mean anything. Because most of the people are going to be watching on Peacock.
But the variation is like when there’s a show with a lot, but the one thing that pay-per-view can tell you is how much interest there is. This one was down 39% from the same period leading into the (Elimination) Chamber show, which was the first Perth, but (Backlash France) was the lowest in history for a WWE show as far as pay-per-view buys. And it looks to be by a significant margin.
So the basic gist is that if this was old school, what we would say is this pay-per-view flopped. Of course, you can’t flop, you can’t flop in UFC, just like their pay-per-view, which also did not do well. You can’t flop; it’s impossible, but interesting level-wise as far as garnering interest, it wasn’t there. Whatever it was, you know, didn’t hook the people. That’s your answer.
And the RAW number usually gets a bump after the pay-per-view. And this did not.”
Also Read: More Sad News For WWE Regarding Backlash France
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