While the Road to WrestleMania is down to its last few miles, the road after that show may include two premium live events the next month.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics (Patreon subscription required, h/t Fightful) reported the new plan for WWE for 2023 is to follow up WrestleMania 39 with a pair of PLEs in May. The first would be Backlash — no longer WrestleMania Backlash, as it has been branded in recent years — on Saturday, May 6.
The second event will reportedly be WWE King and Queen of the Ring for Saturday, May 27. WWE filed a trademark for that name in December, and it has been heavily rumored to become its own show this year.
Both weekend dates will be busy ones if they turn out to be accurate. UFC is holding one of its numbered shows on May 6, though it has yet to reveal a location. That card is expected to feature a UFC Bantamweight Championship bout between Aljamain Sterling and a returning Henry Cejudo. Popular boxing star Canelo Alvarez has also already announced he plans on fighting that same night in Mexico.
AEW hasn’t unveiled its pay-per-view schedule past Revolution, which is coming up on March 5. However, the company traditionally holds its Double or Nothing event in Las Vegas on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, which this year would place it on May 28.
That said, WWE hasn’t shown much concern for holding premium live events on the same weekends or even the same nights as those kinds of potential competition for eyeballs and dollars. Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer commented earlier today that the WWE audience doesn’t cross over with UFC and boxing as much as it once did.
To date, WWE has officially announced just two PLEs for later this year: Money in the Bank at The O2 Arena in London on July 1, and SummerSlam at Detroit’s Ford Field on Aug. 5. If Thurston’s report is accurate, it would set the schedule for the rest of the spring and summer, giving WWE fans a chance to plan accordingly.