Major Update On WWE's Next Saudi Arabia PLE

Further details on when WWE will be returning to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Mar 1, 2023 March 1st, 2023

Updated

In an update on the initial story, PWInsider has now moved to report that this next WWE Saudi Arabia PLE will take place in Jeddah rather than Riyadh.

While Riyadh has housed five of WWE's eight Saudi specials so far, Jeddah's King Abdullah International Stadium, aka the Jeddah Super Dome, has been the venue for the other three events. In fact, that locale was the home of WWE's first PLE to take place in the Kingdom, which was the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018.

As for the most recent WWE show to emanate from the Jeddah Super Dome, that was the 2022 Elimination Chamber, which was headlined by Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Championship in the titular Chamber bout.

Original Story

With recent reports noting how WWE is currently planning to run two Premium Live Events in the month of May, it appears as if the second of these shows will take place in Saudi Arabia.

As per PWInsider.com, Saturday 27 May will see WWE take the King of the Ring and Queen's Crown tournaments to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the ongoing arrangement for the market leader to deliver two events per year for the Saudi government.

This report notes how the current plan is for this PLE to take place from Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh, though that could potentially change in these next few months.

To date, five of WWE's Saudi Arabia shows have taken place at Riyadh's King Saud University Stadium, aka Mrsool Park. The most recent of these was Crown Jewel 2022 last November, where the main event saw Roman Reigns successfully retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Logan Paul.

In terms of the relationship between WWE and Saudi Arabia, that dates back to 2014 when the Vince McMahon-led promotion began to run its first non-televised live events from the nation. 2018 saw it announced that WWE would run two pay-per-views per year from Saudi for the next ten years, with the first of those being the Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018.

Of course, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is believed to be one of the parties interested in purchasing WWE, with WWE itself targeting a sale by the middle of the year. Elsewhere, Comcast, Disney, Netflix, Amazon, UFC owners Endeavour, and even AEW's Tony Khan are amongst the other parties rumoured to have an interest in purchasing WWE.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

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