WWE Superstar Spectacle is a series of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

events produced by the American

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. The events have primarily targeted the promotion's Indian market, and have showcased talent of Indian heritage. The event was first held in 2021 as WWE's first

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

produced specifically for India as part of its broadcasting agreement with

Sony Pictures Networks India Culver Max Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., trading as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN or SPNI), is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Sony Pictures Television. SPN manages and operates 26 television channels, the streaming media platform SonyLIV ...

(SPNI); it featured wrestlers from the Raw,

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United ...

, and NXT brand divisions. It premiered on January 26, 2021—India's

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially calle ...

—on SPNI channels, and was broadcast internationally as a streaming special on the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

. As with all other WWE programming at the time due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the special was taped in the United States using its ThunderDome staging and

virtual audience A virtual audience is the use of videoconferencing as a substitute for an in-person studio audience or spectators during a television program or sporting event. A virtual audience allows users to attend a television taping or other event virtually ...

. In 2023, WWE held a second edition of Superstar Spectacle, this time as a Raw

house show A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

History

Coming out of the American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

's third-quarter financial call on October 29, 2020, WWE's president and Chief Financial Officer, Nick Khan, announced that they were working with

(SPNI) on producing an event specially targeted to the company's Indian market. Khan also revealed that the event would air in 2021 as a

on India's Republic Day (January 26) and would mainly feature the promotion's developing Indian wrestlers. On January 13, 2021, the title for the event was announced as Superstar Spectacle, and WWE revealed that wrestlers from the Raw,

, and NXT brand divisions, including

WWE Champion The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown brand ...

Drew McIntyre Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June, 1985) is a Scottish Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre. Galloway began ...

Rey Mysterio Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Widely regarded as both one of the greatest '' luch ...

Charlotte Flair Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (born April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair. Flair is a second-generation professional wrestler, being t ...

AJ Styles Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (or A.J. Styles), is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, ...

, Bayley, The New Day (

Kofi Kingston Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-born American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Kofi ...

and

Xavier Woods Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and YouTuber. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Xavier Woods and is part of The New Day and is one-half of the current World ...

Shinsuke Nakamura is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Nakamura is known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former 3-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with his first rei ...

, Cesaro,

Dolph Ziggler Nicholas Theodore Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under his real name, stylized as Nic Nemeth, where he is one-half of the TNA World Tag ...

Robert Roode Robert Francis Roode Jr. (born May 11, 1976) is a Canadian retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is a Producer (professional wrestling), producer and was formerly an in-ring performer. Roode is known ...

, Natalya,

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is ...

, and many more would be in attendance at the event.

Jinder Mahal Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is performing on the independent circuit under his real name, stylized as Raj Dhesi. He is best known for his tenures in WWE, where he performed under the ring nam ...

, the first WWE Champion of Indian descent, The Bollywood Boyz ( Samir Singh and Sunil Singh), Indus Sher (

Rinku Rinku may refer to: In characters: * Rinku (''The Legend of Zelda'') or Link, the main character in ''The Legend of Zelda'' media * Rinku (''YuYu Hakusho''), a character in ''YuYu Hakusho'' media * Rinku Aimoto, character from the media '' D4DJ'' ...

and Saurav), Jeet Rama, Kavita Devi, Giant Zanjeer, Dilsher Shanky, and Guru Raaj, were all further confirmed to appear. As with all other WWE programming at the time due to the

, the 2021 Superstar Spectacle was filmed at

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (nicknamed "The Trop") is a domed multipurpose stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. "The Trop" was the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season, 1998 to ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

with no in-person spectators using WWE's " ThunderDome"

bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

. Reports prior to the taping suggested the special would be filmed at the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

's "Capitol Wrestling Center" studio, the home of NXT, but this was not the case. The event itself was taped on January 22 and then aired on tape delay on January 26. The event premiered on Sony Max, Sony Ten 1, and Sony Ten 3, with commentary available in English and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. Outside of India, the special was

streamed Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downloadin ...

on the

. On August 1, 2023, WWE announced that a second Superstar Spectacle would be held on September 8, 2023, at the G. M. C. Balayogi Indoor Stadium in the

suburb of Gachibowli, India. This was WWE's first live event to be held in India since 2017 and the first held in Hyderabad. Various wrestlers from the Raw brand were announced to be featured at the event due to ''

'' being held that same night in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. WWE had planned to again hold the event in January, but SPNI requested that it be held off until the company completed its merger with

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) (formerly Zee Telefilms) is an Indian media conglomerate. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has interests in television, print, internet, film, and businesses related to mobile content, and operates 45 c ...

. Unlike the 2021 event, the 2023 event was a non-televised

. On August 21, it was confirmed that

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

would appear at the event, with Cena himself stating that it would be his first time wrestling in India.

Events

2021

The 2021 Superstar Spectacle was the inaugural Superstar Spectacle professional wrestling 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. In India, it aired as a television special, while outside of India, it was streamed on the WWE Network. The event incorporated elements of traditional and contemporary

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse nation of India, pertaining to the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and the Republic of India post-1947. ...

. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year, the event emanated from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, 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.

Results

2023

The 2023 Superstar Spectacle was the second Superstar Spectacle professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It primarily featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. The event took place on September 8, 2023, at G. M. C. Balayogi Indoor Stadium in the Hyderabad suburb of Gachibowli, India. This was also WWE's first live event held in India since December 2017 and the first held in the city of Hyderabad. Unlike the 2021 event, the 2023 event was instead held as a

. Seven matches took place at the event. In the main event, John Cena and

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986), better known by the ring name Seth Rollins, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand and is the current holder of the Men’s Money in the Bank cont ...

defeated

Imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...

( Giovanni Vinci and

Ludwig Kaiser Marcel Barthel (born 8 July 1990) is a German professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Ludwig Kaiser and is a member of Imperium alongside Gunther. He previously wrestled under the ring n ...

). The event also featured a special appearance by WWE Hall of Famer

The Great Khali Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972), better known by his ring name The Great Khali, is an Indian-born American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter, and actor. He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he be ...

, who was WWE's first Indian-born world champion with the previous World Heavyweight Championship.

Becky Lynch Rebecca Quin (born 30 January 1987), better known by the ring name Becky Lynch, is an Irish professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion in her ...

was originally scheduled to face

Zoey Stark Theresa Serrano (born January 25, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE where she works under the ring name Zoey Stark. She is a former 1-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Professional wrestling career Independe ...

at the event, however, due to an issue with her

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

, she was unable to attend; Natalya took her place and defeated Stark. Both of Natalya's matches were unappreciated at the event as fans chanted for

CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand. Regarded as ...

during her matches due to fan's displeasure with the absence of Becky Lynch and Natalya taking her spot. The event featured John Cena's only appearance in India as an in-ring performer due to his retirement from professional wrestling at the end of 2025. It later aired as Namaste India on

Sony Sports Network The Sony Sports Network, formerly known as the Sony Pictures Sports Network and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment. The original TEN Sports channel was first establish ...

on October 2, 2023.

Results

Reception

Ian Hamilton of '' 411Mania'' gave the 2021 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 ''NXT UK'' was a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the ...

). According to Sean Ross Sapp of ''Fightful'', WWE claimed that 20 million people watched the 2021 event live.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{WWEPPV WWE shows 2021 WWE Network events 2021 in professional wrestling in Florida Professional wrestling in India Professional wrestling shows in St. Petersburg, Florida Events in Hyderabad, India January 2021 in the United States September 2023 in India WWE international

History

Events

2021

Results

2023

Results

Reception

See also

Notes

References

External links