WWE champion Damian Priest makes confident prediction: "I’m expecting us to take the number one spot again"
WWE has greatly strengthened its international fanbase in the last few years. As a result, non-US fans have turned up with highly electric crowds at almost every premium live event. This was also evident at the 2024 Backlash PLE in Lyon, France. Interestingly, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion also had to admit that the French had even more energy than the fans from Puerto Rico last year.
The 2023 iteration of WWE Backlash had seemingly set a gold standard for crowds for all the future PLEs and was often mentioned by commentators. But the crowd of Lyon, with an attendance of 11,682, easily overcame the intensity of Puerto Ricans. Damian Priest recently spoke about this at the Squared Circle Pit podcast.
“Man, it hurts me to say it but I gotta pick France (over Puerto Rico in terms of Backlash crowds).”
However, the Puerto Rico native also noted that Lyon’s fans could only produce that energy because the stage was set during the 2023 Backlash.
“That was something special but that’s not to dog out the island. The island did its thing and they set the table for France to do that. Now, when we go back to P.R., I fully expect Puerto Rico to top that. I think it’s gonna be a one-upmanship type of thing… Without Puerto Rico, I don’t know if that crowd would have done the exact same thing. I’m still sure they would have been on fire but I don’t know (if) it would have been the way that they outshined every other event so, the ball’s in your court, Puerto Rico. I’m expecting us to take the number one spot again.” [H/T - Wrestlezone]
Interestingly, Damian Priest wasn’t the only one who was amazed to be in the ring during the Backlash event in France. In fact, The Viper Randy Orton took a moment to take in the reaction of the French crowd at his entrance.
When Randy Orton was pleasantly surprised at the 2024 WWE Backlash
Randy Orton has dominated the squared circle since the 2000s and has won the world championship a stunning 14 times. While he has a huge fan following, Lyon’s fans stunned him by loudly singing his entrance theme song, Voices, as he walked down the ramp. The Viper could be seen visibly happy with the response he got from fans and instead of just showcasing his signature pose, he could be seen taking the moment in.
During one of his most iconic promos, Randy Orton once said that the crowd is the biggest 'Legend Killer.' However, he must have been been elated to see the pleasant side of the crowd as well. As WWE heads into another overseas PLE in Saudi Arabia, it would be interesting to see if the fans of Jeddah can beat the fans' energy levels in Lyon.