WWE Backlash Struggled With Public Interest Compared To Last Year

WWE Backlash was a huge deal for WWE fans in Puerto Rico, and the company brought an action-packed show. The company is in competition with all media outlets and sporting events, not just pro wrestling. That more than proved itself to be a fact when taking a look at the numbers after Backlash.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter listed off the top Google searches for last weekend. Sadly, with so much competition, WWE Backlash was way down on the list, barely even making the list.

While WWE touted its usual stats to make it appear Backlash was the biggest sports event of the weekend, based on Google searches, these were the numbers: 1. Kentucky Derby 3.3 million; 2. Lakers 3.05 million; 3. UFC 1.1 million (top individual Henry Cejudo); 4. Celtics 1 million; 5. Warriors and Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder 700,000 (which didn’t do big PPV numbers off television, just over double on television what AEW Revolution did because it was most promoted as a DAZN PPV rather than a TV PPV–about one-fifth of Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia, which was the most recent huge PPV number but that’s comparing early buys with final buys of the latter show); 7. Backlash 200,000 (top individual Bad Bunny).

It was also noted that Backlash was down WWE Backlash was down18.3% in PPV buys from last year. Compared to Elimination Chamber in February, it was down 41.7%. The Backlash event was likely hurt from the other sporting events that weekend, including UFC, the Kentucky Derby, Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder, and the NBA & NHL Playoffs.

There were a lot of things going on last Saturday, but WWE fans were still in for a big show in Puerto Rico. We’ll have to see when WWE goes back there, but the white-hot reception in San Juan did not equal more interest on Google.

What’s your take on WWE Backlash this year? Did it feel like a bigger event for you? Sound off in the comments!