Impact Wrestling Paid Fans to Attend Their TV Tapings in India

Impact Wrestling held two nights of tapings last week at Reliance MediaWorks Studios in Mumbai, India. The TV studio held 500 people and everyone in the crowd was apparently paid between 250-400 rupee ($3.88-$6.21) to attend, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

However, the Observer notes that paying the audience is apparently common for television shoots in India, so it probably isn’t as bad as it sounds and doesn’t have the same stigma it would have if it happened in the US. Shows in the “Impact Zone” in Orlando have free admission.

Fans at the Mumbai tapings were also instructed about who to cheer and boo, with “villains” coming in from the left side of the stage and “heroes” coming from the right side.

Here’s the crowd “reacting” to Alberto El Patron’s entrance on the first Mumbai show that aired last night.