WWE Superstar Spectacle

WWE Superstar Spectacle was a professional wrestling television special and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brand divisions. The event was taped on January 22, 2021, and aired on January 26 for India's Republic Day. The event was specially produced for WWE's Indian market as a part of their five-year deal with Sony Pictures Networks India. The event also incorporated elements of traditional and contemporary Indian culture and emanated from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

WWE Superstar Spectacle
Promotional graphic featuring various WWE wrestlers
PromotionWWE
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown
NXT
DateJanuary 22, 2021[1]
(aired January 26, 2021)
CitySt. Petersburg, Florida
VenueTropicana Field
Attendance0 (behind closed doors)[lower-alpha 1]
Tagline(s)Indian Dhamaal
A Republic Day Blockbuster
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Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event match, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and The Indus Sher (Rinku and Saurav) defeated The Bollywood Boyz (Samir Singh and Sunil Singh) and the returning Jinder Mahal. The event also featured the participation of 10 Indian wrestlers from WWE's developmental system. The company later announced that 20 million people had watched the event live.

Production

Background

Coming out of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's third-quarter financial call on October 29, 2020, WWE's President and Chief Financial Officer, Nick Khan, announced that they were working with Sony Pictures Networks India on producing an event specially targeted to their Indian market, which would air in 2021 as a television special on India's Republic Day (January 26) and would mainly feature the promotion's developing Indian wrestlers.[2][3][4]

As with all other WWE programming at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Superstar Spectacle was filmed in Florida with no in-person spectators using WWE's "ThunderDome" bubble, by then located at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Reports prior to the taping suggested the special would be filmed at the WWE Performance Center's "Capitol Wrestling Center" studio,[5] the current home of NXT, but this was not the case.[6]

On January 13, 2021, the title for the event was announced as Superstar Spectacle,[7] and WWE announced that WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, Charlotte Flair, AJ Styles, Bayley, The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Natalya, Ricochet, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, and many more would be in attendance at the event.[8][9] Jinder Mahal, the first WWE Champion of Indian descent,[10] The Bollywood Boyz (Sunil Singh and Samir Singh), The Indus Sher (Rinku and Saurav), Jeet Rama, Kavita Devi, Giant Zanjeer, Dilsher Shanky, and Guru Raaj, were all further confirmed to appear.[11][12][7] The event would premiere on Sony Max, Sony Ten 1, and Sony Ten 3, with commentary available in English and Hindi. Outside of India, the special was also released on WWE Network.[7]

Storylines

The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brands,[13][14] while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and NXT.[15]

Reception

Ian Hamilton of 411mania gave Superstar Spectacle a 7.2 out of 10, remarking of the Indian performers (including those making their television debut) that "for a group of guys effectively trained from scratch, this wasn’t half bad", and believing that the show was a potential step towards a future "NXT India" (following the example of NXT UK).[6]

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, WWE claimed that 20 million people watched the event live.[16]

Results
No. Results Stipulations Times
1 Finn Bálor defeated Guru Raaj by pinfall Singles match[17] 7:08
2 Dilsher Shanky, Giant Zanjeer, Rey Mysterio, and Ricochet defeated Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, King Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura by pinfall Eight-man tag team match[17] 6:25
3 AJ Styles (with Omos) defeated Jeet Rama by pinfall Singles match[17] 3:14
4 Charlotte Flair and Sareena Sandhu defeated Bayley and Natalya by pinfall Tag team match[17] 6:06
5 Drew McIntyre and Indus Sher (Rinku and Saurav) defeated The Bollywood Boyz (Samir Singh and Sunil Singh) and Jinder Mahal by pinfall Six-man tag team match[17] 9:03

See also

Notes
  1. The event was held without a paying audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, though featured a live crowd of virtual fans via WWE's ThunderDome viewing experience.

References
  1. Johnson, Mike (18 January 2021). "WWE taping Superstar Special this week, special to air next week on major holiday in India". PWInsider. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  2. Currier, Joseph (9 January 2021). "WWE announces 'Superstar Spectacle' India special". The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  3. Transcribers, Motley Fool (30 October 2020). "World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (WWE) Q3 2020 Earnings Call Transcript". The Motley Fool. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  4. Powell, Jason (29 October 2020). "10/29 WWE Conference Call report: Vince McMahon discusses the 2020 third quarter financial report". Prowrestling.net. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  5. Johnson, Mike (12 January 2020). "WWE Superstar Spectacle updates". PWInsider. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  6. "Hamilton's WWE Superstar Spectacle Review". 411mania. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  7. Johnson, Mike (13 January 2021). "Official details released on WWE Superstar Spectacle, lots of big WWE names to appear". PWInsider. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  8. "WWE® and Sony Pictures Network India announce WWE Superstar Spectacle". WWE. 16 January 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  9. Defelice, Robert (13 January 2021). "WWE Officially Announces Superstar Spectacle Airdate, Stars From All Three Brands To Be Featured". Fightful. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  10. Deb, Sopan (19 August 2017). "Jinder Mahal, the immigrant who became the 'Modern Day Maharaja'". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  11. Staff, WWE.com (13 January 2021). "WWE and Sony Pictures Network India announce WWE Superstar Spectacle". WWE. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  12. "WWE Superstar Spectacle - Special event for Indian audience on Republic Day". The Hindustan Times. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  13. Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  14. "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  15. Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  16. Sapp, Sean Ross. "WWE says 20 million people watched Superstar Spectacle". Twitter.
  17. "SUPERSTAR SPECTACLE RESULTS". WWE. January 26, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
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