WWE and Fanatics are expanding their relationship.

Starting May 1, right before WWE’s premium live event, Backlash, Fanatics will assume operations of world event merchandise business for the skilled wrestling entertainment group.

Fanatics already operates WWE’s e-commerce site and holds the rights for licensed merchandise and memorabilia for the organization, but it’ll now manage the on-site retail operations as well for WWE’s 300-plus annual events including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam.

Under the terms of the deal, Fanatics will work to boost the in-venue experience by offering more local collections, creating progressive retail stores and utilizing Fanatics-operated team stores during events. Fanatics already has partnerships with greater than 50 skilled and college teams across several sports. 

“Fanatics has been an incredible partner and can immediately bolster WWE’s event retail business,” said Alex Varga, WWE’s senior vice chairman and head of corporate development. “Expanding our partnership will allow WWE to further expand our offering to fans and grow merchandise revenue in 2023 and beyond.”

“The WWE has built one of the vital incredible global events portfolios across sports and entertainment, and we’re honored that they’ve tapped Fanatics to construct on our overarching partnership together,” said Molly Adams, Fanatics Commerce’s chief strategic retail officer. “Through our expansive global footprint and event retail operations expertise, Fanatics is uniquely positioned to offer an unrivaled event retail experience for WWE’s passionate fans at a whole lot of events worldwide.” 

WWE Backlash, featuring Bad Bunny, shall be held on the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 6.