WWE’s Elimination Chamber premium live event from this past weekend in Montreal proved to be a massive success. Anchored by the white-hot program between Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn over the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, the show was a 54% increase from last year’s event in Saudi Arabia and shattered viewership and merchandise records. WWE put out a press release on Tuesday to celebrate the show, which read, “WWEยฎ (NYSE: WWE) today announced that the 2023 Elimination Chamber, which emanated from the Bell Centre in Montreal, became WWE’s highest-grossing and most-viewed Elimination Chamber in company history. Viewership of the 2023 Elimination Chamber saw a 54 percent increase versus the previous record set in 2022. It also marked the largest gate ever for any WWE event held in Montreal and the largest gate in the history of Elimination Chamber.
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“In addition, 2023 Elimination Chamber broke the all-time event merchandise record and generated the highest-grossing Priority Pass fan experience packages for any non-‘Big Five’ premium live event through WWE’s partnership with On Location. Elimination Chamber sponsorship revenue was up nearly 300 percent versus 2022,” the release continued. “On social, content featuring WWE Superstars Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn generated nearly 20 million views across WWE’s social platforms.”
Zayn opened this week’s Raw by attempting to reunite with Kevin Owens and try to bring down The Bloodline together. Owens declined, telling Zayn he should go ask Jey Uso instead. WWE then uploaded a backstage interview as Zayn described the emotional rollercoaster he’s been on lately.ย
“You know, as I said out there, a lot of gratitude, the love that they showed me in Montreal and Ottawa, and again just harboring, I know maybe it’s unfounded, people tell me ‘no no, don’t do that to yourself,’ but I do, I do feel guilt, I feel a little bit of embarrassment, a little bit of shame that I couldn’t… you know, I couldn’t get it done,” Zayn said. “But, you know, I also take a lot of pride in the fact that a year ago, nobody would have ever given me a chance in the world of even being in this match, but the truth is I went the distance with the most dominant champion of all time. I had him beat, and the only reason he was able to beat me is because, well, he cheated. That’s what The Bloodline do, they cheat to ensure- trust me, I know, okay? Trust me, I know, and he got it done, but, you know, I don’t know.
“I just have to focus on the fact that it’s not the end, you know? I kept putting it in my head that this has to be how I finish the story and, this has to be it. All these ten months and all these stars aligning in Montreal, this has to be the way it ends, but it never ends. For me, it’s not the end. And so, I don’t know. I just think the fact that I, when I started looking at it, that this is not the end, and this is not a failure and it’s not where the story finishes, you know, it makes me feel better. I don’t know,” he continued.
