Could WWE Night Of Champions Be In Jeopardy? (WWE News)
How have the actions of a WWE Hall-of-Famer raised questions about company's latest Saudi show?
WWE's ongoing relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has had its share of issues and controversy, but the kingdom's geography and recent world events have raised questions about the company's upcoming premium live event, Night of Champions.
That next PLE is slated to take place this Saturday at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with SmackDown emanating from the same venue the night prior.
This weekend, however, the United States bombed Iran, conducting airstrikes on three of the country's nuclear facilities, potentially plunging the nation into another Middle East conflict. In the aftermath, Iranian state television said that every American citizen or military personnel in the region is now a “target," with just the Persian Gulf separating Iran and Saudi Arabia. It's unclear at this time whether this will impact SmackDown or Night of Champions.
Fightful Select reported that it has contacted WWE reps "in an official capacity" and hasn't heard back. One higher-up told the outlet on background that the situation "was being monitored accordingly." PWInsider also has contacted several WWE officials about the status of this weekend's shows and has not received a response.
The U.S. State Department has had an ongoing travel advisory to Saudi Arabia since September 2024, but a security alert issued on Sunday encourages military personnel and American citizens to "exercise increased caution and limit non-essential travel to any military installations in the region." This obviously does not preclude WWE from holding the shows, but it does raise the level of concern, as Iran, Israel, and Iraq all carry the State Department's highest warnings of "do not travel."
Fightful indicated that WWE talent are slated to travel to Riyadh midweek via charter plane, so any decision about whether the events must go on would need to be made in the next couple of days.
Even if WWE charges ahead with the weekend shows, there is always the question of whether some wrestlers could refuse to travel to a region where a hostile force has warned that they could retaliate against Americans. It's not unprecedented for WWE talent to back out of a Saudi show for personal reasons. John Cena and Daniel Bryan both pulled out of Crown Jewel 2018 in the wake of the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Sami Zayn (and a supportive Kevin Owens) did not perform in Saudi until the kingdom re-established diplomatic ties with Syria.
For its part, WWE is continuing with prep on the ground in Riyadh. Fightful reported that one source working on the event called it "full steam ahead" as of Sunday, adding, in their opinion, they didn't believe the shows would be postponed or canceled. The source believes there is "too much money at stake" with the 2026 Royal Rumble scheduled for Saudi Arabia, adding that "Saudi is one of the safest places in the world" as it relates to the current situation.
Regardless of anyone's personal views on the United States jumping into Israel's conflict by bombing Iran, or WWE's partnership with Saudi Arabia, the mere threat of retaliation against American citizens in the region has to be unnerving and should at the very least lead to WWE seriously weighing up the risks. Everything could very easily go off without a hitch, but if not, everyone will point to the situation being entirely preventable simply by not going.