Is WWE's Superstar Spectacle 2023 Show a Premium Live Event?

WWE's Superstar Spectacle show in India will reportedly not air live on Peacock as a premium live event.

By Connor Casey

WWE is heading to India in two weeks for the upcoming Superstar Spectacle event at the G.M.C. Balayogi Indoor Stadium in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana. News broke on Monday that John Cena will wrestle at the event and stars like World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley, Dew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and Indus Sher have been featured in the show's advertising. But will this event air on Peacock as a WWE Premium Live Event? The latest reports indicate the answer is no. Instead, the show will air locally via the Sony Sports Network, WWE's broadcast partner in India.

"Yeah, the partners, this is another show where WWE is being brought in. They've been wanting to do this big show, it's basically a television event in India. The building itself is like 3500-4000 seats for this setup. It's a 5,000-seat building. It's not about drawing a big crowd, or anything like that, like big money from the fanbase, but it's a show that their business partners in India are bringing them in, and it's gonna be a primetime special I think on Sony Six," Dave Meltzer explained on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingNews.co). "It was something that was planned months ago and delayed because they were waiting for a merger to go through that has since gone through with Sony Six. It's gonna be heavily using Sanga and Veer and Jinder Mahal."

"They [WWE] make more money on television in India than anywhere but the United States. They make more than Canada. More than the UK, I think Canada's number 4, UK's number 3, India's number 2 as far as the money that they make off of the television. It's a very important market for WWE, but not a market that they can run a whole bunch of shows in like they can in Canada or the UK," he added. 

John Cena on His In-Ring Ability in 2023

Cena's match at Superstar Spectacle will mark the first time he has wrestled since WrestleMania 39 back. He reflected on the match with Austin Theory on an episode of Busted Open Radio the following month, noting that's the best he can physically muster at this point in his career. 

"I wish I was still there every day, it's just my body can't do it anymore and I don't wanna give the consumer a bad product," Cena said. "That's another thing that I learned from those veterans. At the time, guys like Eddie (Guerrero) would just risk so much [just in the name of not] giving the consumer a bad product. I don't care how I feel, I don't care how I feel physically, I don't care what baggage I have mentally, when I'm on, they paid good money and I'm gonna go out there and give everything I have and sometimes find it when it's not there. 

"I'm at a point where everything I have, in comparison to the bar that's been set... what I have is what you saw at WrestleMania 39. That's what I feel confident that I can deliver, and that's really nice for here and there, but that's not every day in WWE. Sports entertainment has raised the bar and I'm humble enough to say that's awesome, because you're supposed to leave it better than you found it," he continued.

WWE Payback 2023 Card

  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez
  • Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus (Steel Cage Match)
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