Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including WWE and Saudi Arabia, the full Smackdown and Collision reports, Jon Jones retires, Olympic gold medalist signs with New Japan and won’t change name, the Dynamite rating and why it was so huge, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia is still on 3:22: Jon Jones announces retirement, new allegations surface 11:59: Olympic gold medalist Aaron Wolf signs with NJPW 16:42: Dave’s CMLL Fantastica Mania thoughts 34:25: Ratings, Canelo/Crawford fight update 47:27: WWE SmackDown recap 1:03:19: AEW Collision recap, WWE Raw lineup
It was announced during Backlash that WWE’s next premium live event will take place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on June 28. Tickets will be available for the event soon.
This will be WWE’s first event in the country this year. Their last show was November’s Crown Jewel event, where Cody Rhodes successfully defended the WWE title against Gunther.
Night of Champions will also mark the first time that WWE will hold a show at the Kingdom Arena. Opening last year, it has already been home to a UFC on ABC event as well as several boxing matches including Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou back in October.
WWE has already announced that for the first time ever, the Royal Rumble will be held in Saudi Arabia in January of 2026. While a 50-man ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’ previously took place in the country, it was not the traditional Royal Rumble match where the winner gets to headline WrestleMania.
Not only will WWE bring the Royal Rumble to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2026, but they are planning on two additional premium live events for the country that year as well.
During Wednesday’s TKO earnings call, TKO chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said their guidance for investors in 2025 included one PLE in Saudi Arabia this year compared to two last year which “results in an unfavorable impact to our 2025 plan of approximately $55 million of total company revenue. We expect to host three PLEs in Saudi Arabia in 2026, including Royal Rumble.”
WWE confirmed in January that they would bring one of the “big four” PLEs to Saudi Arabia with next January’s Royal Rumble — the first-ever Rumble held outside North America and the first outside the United States since the inaugural one in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1988.
The Saudi relationship began in 2018 with two annual events with the exception of 2020 and 2021. The 2025 Saudi event has yet to be officially announced.
On the call, TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said they are very close with the Saudis in beginning a boxing league that has been in the works for some time in which TKO would get equity and a fee from the Saudis for running it.
The TKO family may grow over the next few weeks as a report out Wednesday has the owners of WWE & UFC teaming up with Saudi Arabia to launch a new boxing league.
While rumors of TKO and the Saudis partnering up on boxing began in 2024, a New York Times report stated that a company owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund is “close” to creating a league with TKO featuring “up-and-coming boxers tied exclusively to the league” that could be announced at some point in the next few weeks.
WWE and the Saudis just announced that the Royal Rumble will be heading to the country in 2026 in the latest extension of their longtime relationship.
UFC head Dana White has long felt that boxing is broken and has wanted to do something about it, even teasing Zuffa Boxing years ago. TKO president Mark Shapiro said on a November investor call that if the company was to do something with boxing, it would be “in an organic way” and not by purchasing an existing entity.
Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alsheikh has been a key driver in bringing major boxing events to the country in recent years with a potential eye toward something like this.
According to the report, TKO would be a managing partner with the aforementioned Fund covering the investment. TKO would receive an equity stake and a revenue share.
For the first time since the very first edition, the WWE Royal Rumble will be held on international soil as the company officially announced the 2026 premium live event will emanate from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The event will take place in January 2026 as part of the country’s Riyadh Season celebration. It will be the first-ever Rumble held outside North America and the first outside the United States since the inaugural one in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1988.
No official date or start time was announced.
لأول مرة في السعودية …حدث رويال رامبل الأسطوري قادم إلى #موسم_الرياض في يناير 2026 .. ليلة تاريخية لعشاق WWE 🇸🇦🔥
For the first time in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the legendary Royal Rumble is coming to #RiyadhSeason on January 2026 A historic night for WWE fans 🇸🇦🔥… pic.twitter.com/5Oy3BmxYBq
It’s the latest development in a growing, and sometimes contoversial, relationship between WWE, their parent company TKO, and the Saudis which began in 2018 with two annual events with the exception of 2020 and 2021 (one each). In addition to exclusive shows like the Greatest Royal Rumble, Crown Jewel and 2024’s King & Queen of the Ring, PLEs like Elimination Chamber (2022) and Night of Champions (2023) have also been held there.
Based on previous SEC reports, WWE is believed to take in $50 million per show as part of the deal. Based on the verbiage of the press release, it’s assumed the Royal Rumble will be held in addition to the other bi-annual shows. There has been no reporting as to what WWE/TKO will generate for this deal.
The location for the 2026 Royal Rumble may already be set.
PWInsider reported on Friday that next year’s event will take place in Saudi Arabia. If confirmed, this will be the first Royal Rumble to be held outside of the United States since it became a pay-per-view, and later a premium live event. The first Royal Rumble in Ontario, Canada was broadcast on the USA Network in 1988.
According to PWInsider, WWE’s official announcement could come as soon as this Monday, when Raw premieres on Netflix.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani last May, Saudi Arabia’s chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Alsheikh said the country was speaking with WWE about hosting either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble in 2026 or 2027.
WWE has brought premium live events to Saudi Arabia each year since their ten-year agreement was signed in 2018. In recent years, the company has held King and Queen of the Ring events as well as Crown Jewel. Two television tapings took place in the country in 2024.
The 2025 edition of the Royal Rumble will be held on February 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
WWE’s inaugural Crown Jewel Champions won’t be bringing their new title belts home with them.
At WWE’s pre-Crown Jewel kickoff event in Riyadh today, Paul “Triple H” Levesque revealed that the Crown Jewel Championship winners will receive a “massive ring” akin to a Super Bowl ring that “shows to the world that they are the one true champion in WWE.” The Crown Jewel title belts themselves will stay in Saudi Arabia on display at the WWE Experience fan attraction.
Crown Jewel 2024 is taking place this Saturday with Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther and Nia Jax vs. Liv Morgan determining the first Crown Jewel Champions. Those four wrestlers — who are the top title holders in the men’s and women’s divisions — will not be putting their own belts on the line in Saturday’s matches.
Levesque reiterated that this will be the annual theme for Crown Jewel going forward.
“As this is an annual event, we’ll see how many rings people can collect over the years,” Levesque said.
Aside from 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Crown Jewel has taken place every year since 2018 as part of WWE’s long-term business deal with the Saudi government.
It appears that NXT could be coming to Saudi Arabia for the first time in that partnership. Levesque asked the Riyadh crowd today if they would like to see NXT hold an event in Saudi Arabia. He said he would talk to Shawn Michaels and see what they can do.
For the first time ever, an episode of WWE Raw is set to be held in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi official Turki Alalshikh issued a press release today hyping the events that will take place during Riyadh Season this fall. Among them are WWE Crown Jewel 2024 and an episode of Raw. The press release states that the shows will happen on back-to-back days, which means that Raw will be taped on Sunday, November 3 before then airing on Monday, November 4.
The press release says:
The WWE Crown Jewel & Raw show, set to take place over two consecutive days, this event will be one of the global events hosted by Riyadh Season this year, carrying on its annual tradition featuring a stronger lineup of wrestlers within the most powerful, comprehensive, and diverse entertainment season in the world.
WWE’s controversial business partnership with the Saudi government began in 2018 and includes Saudi Arabia hosting two WWE PLEs per year. A SmackDown episode was also held in Saudi Arabia prior to King & Queen of the Ring this May.
The November 4 Raw episode will start the build to Survivor Series, which takes place from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Saturday, November 30.
WWE has already confirmed when its next show in Saudi Arabia will be taking place.
On Saturday, WWE King & Queen of the Ring was held in Jeddah. It was announced during the broadcast that Crown Jewel 2024 will take place from Riyadh on Saturday, November 2. The event is set to stream live on Peacock/WWE Network.
Aside from 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Crown Jewel has taken place every year since 2018. WWE entered into a long-term deal with the Saudi government that year, receiving an estimated $50 million for every show it holds in the country. WWE currently holds two shows per year in Saudi Arabia.
During an earnings call earlier this month, TKO executive Mark Shapiro said WWE still has a “very, very strong relationship” with Saudi Arabia despite Vince McMahon no longer being involved with the company. Shapiro credited WWE President Nick Khan for maintaining the relationship.
A week after news broke that Saudi Arabia was hopeful to host a big-name WWE PLE in the future, the main man behind that push has provided targeted dates for either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour Wednesday, General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alsheikh said they are speaking with WWE about hosting either WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble in either 2026 or 2027 — both of which would be unprecedented considering the history of both shows.
Last week, Alsheikh told ESPN that an “enhancement” to their deal will be announced this month, expected to be next week when WWE returns to Saudi Arabia for King & Queen of the Ring. WWE has yet to comment publicly on any talks.
As part of a contract that was signed in 2018, WWE brings two yearly PLEs to Saudi Arabia: one of which is Crown Jewel that is specific to that country. WWE is believed to take in $50 million per event as part of that deal.
TKO, the parent company of WWE and UFC, has embedded themselves even further with Saudi Arabia and recently announced a new deal that will see them host another UFC event in addition to sponsorship of UFC’s debut show (UFC 306) at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
In its 40-year history, WrestleMania has been held twice on foreign soil, both times in Toronto, Canada. The very first Rumble event was held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1988 but has taken place stateside ever since.
Though Vince McMahon is no longer involved, WWE’s business relationship with Saudi Arabia remains strong.
As part of a deal with the Saudi government, WWE has held PPVs/PLEs in the country since 2018. The long-term deal calls for WWE to hold two events in Saudi Arabia per year, receiving an estimated $50 million for each show. The next of those events will be King & Queen of the Ring on May 25.
Saudi official Turki Alsheikh recently told ESPN that an “enhancement” to WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia will be announced later this month. Alsheikh said Saudi Arabia is hoping to host a future Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.
During TKO Group’s first quarter earnings call, TKO executive Mark Shapiro was asked about WWE potentially expanding its Saudi relationship. Shapiro said WWE could potentially look to increase the amount of shows it holds in the country, but nothing is planned right now beyond the two annual events.
Shapiro noted that, while there was speculation the WWE-Saudi partnership could be negatively impacted by McMahon being gone, WWE President Nick Khan has maintained a “very, very strong relationship” with Saudi Arabia.
What I would say there is, let’s remember, we have a strong and healthy relationship with the Kingdom through WWE and doing two annual events a year. And I’ll just remind folks… those deals were primarily and highly tied to Vince McMahon. And there was a lot of speculation with Vince being gone, ‘Would that impact the relationship in a negative way? Would they be looking to get out of it?’ And I would say proudly that Nick Khan, in particular, has developed and sustained, cultivated, nurtured a very, very strong relationship in a handoff from Vince.
They [Nick Khan and Saudi Arabia] have a lot of trust in each other. They have a lot of faith. We’ve been delivering on those events. Potentially we could look to do more events, but nothing is planned beyond those two events at this time. And we will continue to look at eventizing or festivalizing those WWE events more than we already do.
The UFC, which is also owned by TKO, announced an extension to its partnership with Saudi Arabia this week.
According to the chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority, an “enhancement” to the existing deal between WWE and the Saudis will be announced this month: one that could see a major WWE PLE head overseas.
It’s assumed the new deal will be announced during King & Queen of the Ring which comes to Jeddah on May 25th.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger posted on X that Turki Alsheikh is “is looking to bring January’s annual Royal Rumble or WWE’s top event, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia.”
.@Turki_alalshikh tells ESPN an enhancement to Saudi Arabia's existing agreement with WWE will be announced later this month. Specifically, Alalshikh is looking to bring January's annual Royal Rumble or WWE's top event, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia.
The news comes on the heels of the UFC and the Saudis announcing an extension of their existing deal, one that will see both UFC and Power Slap return to the country during their annual Riyadh Season festival (October through March) in addition to sponsorship of the UFC’s debut at The Sphere in Las Vegas for UFC 306 this September.
The UFC will debut in Saudi Arabia this June.
WWE and Saudi Arabia’s controversial partnership began in 2018 with two events brought there annually with the exception of 2020 and 2021 (one each). While shows like the Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel are exclusive to Saudi Arabia, PLEs like Elimination Chamber (2022) and Night of Champions (2023) have also been held there.
Based on previous SEC reports, WWE is believed to take in $50 million per show as part of the deal. Of note, Vince McMahon, the man that orchestrated that deal and also helped in a connection with the UFC’s debut there, is no longer with TKO after he stepped down as TKO executive chairman following the emergence of the current Janel Grant lawsuit.
Next month, WWE will be presenting shows from Saudi Arabia on back-to-back nights.
A video aired during WrestleMania 40 night two confirming that a WWE King & Queen of the Ring premium live event will be held in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, May 25. The video also included the announcement that SmackDown will emanate from Saudi Arabia on Friday, May 24.
The city of Jeddah is hosting both shows.
BREAKING: #SmackDown and WWE King & Queen of the Ring will be LIVE from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia!
This marks a change for WWE. In the past, SmackDown aired episodes that were taped a week in advance before the Saudi PLEs.
King & Queen of the Ring is a new WWE PLE name. The first King & Queen of the Ring event was originally scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2023 before WWE changed its plans.
The King of the Ring tournament is returning for the first time since 2021. This will be the first-ever Queen of the Ring, though a Queen’s Crown tournament did happen alongside King of the Ring in 2021. Xavier Woods and Zelina Vega were the winners of those tournaments.
Since 2018, WWE has regularly held events in Saudi Arabia as part of a deal with the Saudi government.
Here’s a look at WWE’s post-WrestleMania PLE schedule:
Saturday, May 4: Backlash (Lyon, France)
Saturday, May 25: King & Queen of the Ring (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
Saturday, June 15: Clash at the Castle (Glasgow, Scotland)
Saturday, July 6: Money in the Bank (Toronto, Canada)
Saturday, August 3: SummerSlam (Cleveland, Ohio)
Saturday, August 31: Bash in Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
It doesn’t look like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be wrestling at WWE’s next show in Saudi Arabia.
WWE is scheduled to make its return to Saudi Arabia for a premium live event on Saturday, May 25. Dave Meltzer reported last week that, while a lot of variables and factors were in play, WWE would obviously like to have The Rock on that event. Meltzer noted that there had definitely been a push to get The Rock to work at least one of WWE’s Saudi events this year.
In an update in the new edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer writes that Rock’s movie filming schedule rules him out of the May 25 show in Saudi Arabia:
Johnson starts filming ‘The Smashing Machine’ on 5/1. This rules him out of the May Saudi Arabia show and makes SummerSlam tough depending on the schedule. It could mean the earliest he could do another match would be the second Saudi Arabia show. And I could see him waiting for WrestleMania.
“The Smashing Machine” is a biopic with The Rock playing MMA legend Mark Kerr. The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions is partnering with A24 Films for the movie.
With WrestleMania 40 just three weeks away, The Rock is set to appear on SmackDown from Memphis tonight (March 15). WWE will follow up on Cody Rhodes slapping The Rock at the end of last Friday’s show.
The Rock & Roman Reigns are facing Rhodes & Seth Rollins at night one of WrestleMania. It has implications for Reigns and Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at night two. If Rhodes & Rollins win the tag team match, The Bloodline will be barred from ringside for Reigns vs. Rhodes. If Rock & Reigns win, Reigns vs. Rhodes will be a Bloodline Rules (anything goes) match.
WrestleMania 40 may not be the only match that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson works in 2024.
In the new edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that, while nothing is set in stone, the belief right now is that WrestleMania won’t be the only time The Rock wrestles in 2024. There’s a push to get The Rock to work at least one of WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows this year.
Meltzer writes that WWE’s next Saudi show is scheduled for Saturday, May 25. There are a lot of variables and factors in play, but WWE would obviously like it if The Rock worked that event:
The next Saudi Arabia PPV is 5/25, which will be the day before AEW’s Double or Nothing show. When there was an attempt by some to get Rock to move to a later date with Reigns and keep Cody Rhodes in the spot (while Nick Khan and Ari Emanuel had made the deal, there were people who felt that since the spot was promised to Rhodes last year and they’d been building it, have it be Rhodes at Mania and Reigns-Rock in Saudi with the idea of garnering more money, this would have been that date. When asking if Rock will be working that show, we’re told there are a lot of variables in play and a variety of factors but obviously the company would like it if he would. But while nothing is set in stone, the belief as of right now is that Mania won’t be his only match in 2024 and there is definitely a push to get him to work at least one Saudi Arabia event this year.
A tag team match with The Rock & Roman Reigns facing Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins is set to headline WrestleMania 40 night one on Saturday, April 6. That should be made official when The Rock, Reigns, Rhodes, and Rollins all appear on SmackDown tonight.
The Rock & Reigns issued a challenge for the WrestleMania tag match on SmackDown last Friday. It will have implications for Reigns and Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 40 night two. If Rhodes & Rollins win, The Bloodline will be barred from Reigns vs. Rhodes. If The Rock & Reigns win, Reigns vs. Rhodes will be a Bloodline Rules match, meaning that anything goes.
The Rock was named to TKO Group Holding’s Board of Directors this January. TKO is the parent company of WWE and UFC.
