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WWE intends to keep its five biggest events, including WrestleMania, in North America, but it's looking for its other premium live events to be held internationally, WWE CEO Nick Khan said Wednesday at the CAA World Congress of Sports in Los Angeles.
The five are: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, Summer Slam and Survivor Series. Money in the Bank is scheduled for July 6 in Toronto.
"We sat down together a few years ago and decided, so the big five premium live events ... should be in the United States or Canada," Khan said. "All of the other events, the goal is to have them from international locations."
That means WWE will have seven international PLEs this year, Chief Content Office Paul Levesque told conference attendees. "And we're just getting started on that too, really," he said.
WWE's next premium live event is Backlash, scheduled for May 6 in Lyon, France. That follows February's Elimination Chamber in Perth, Australia.
"That's going to be a sellout at a much larger gate revenue projection than we thought it would be," Khan said of the show in France. "And it's also going to be the biggest wrestling event in the history of Lyon, France."
Khan also noted France was a potentially underserved nation for WWE.
King and Queen of the Ring in late May is scheduled for Saudi Arabia, with Clash at the Castle in June set for Glasgow, Scotland. The Bash at Berlin is scheduled for late August in Germany.
"It's over and over until we're back in the United States, I think, in October for one of our premium live events," Khan said. "There's a halo effect on those big deals. Merchandise sales, relevancy goes up, and who knows -- is the next Yao Ming of that country watching [WWE] and wanting to do it in 10 years." (l to r): SBJ's Abe Madkour digs into the WWE with Paul "Triple H" Levesque and its president, Nick Khan