Nick Khan Claims Saudi WrestleMania Was “Natural Step”
Nick Khan is excited to take WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia.
It was recently announced that WrestleMania 43 will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2027. This will mark the first time the event has ever been held outside of North America.
The deal to take WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia has been met with significant criticism from outside of the company. This is often put down to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record, treatment of the LGBTQ community, allegations of sportswashing, and tension stemming from the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The announcement came after it was already confirmed that the 2026 Royal Rumble would also be held in the kingdom. Again, this is the first time that the event has been held outside of the United States and Canada.
Nick Khan Defends WrestleMania Move
During an appearance at Joy Forum, Nick Khan was asked about WrestleMania heading to Saudi Arabia and why the company decided to take the jump.
“It was a natural next step for us. In WWE, we realized a number of years ago that we can’t simply pipe American product out globally and hope to be a global product. You actually have to have boots on the ground. If you look at what we’ve done with our Premium Live Events over the last few years, about half of those now take place outside of the United States.
We’re in the eighth year of a long-term partnership with Turki Al-Sheikh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We’re bringing the Royal Rumble here at the end of January. It’s the first time the Royal Rumble, which is our second or third biggest event, will take place outside of the US or Canada. WrestleMania 2027 will be here in April of that year, the first time ever WrestleMania will be outside of the US or Canada.
We’re excited. We think viewership is going to be strong. We think people will come to the Kingdom to see our show, and we’re going to put on a spectacle.”
When asked about moving WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia instead of another international location, Khan said that the company’s existing relationship with the kingdom was key.
“WWE had received a number of different offers from entities outside of the US, and to me, as I try to help lead the company, it’s all about relationships. A word used too often in our business is ‘partnership,’ but when you’re actually partners with somebody and you can all them and say, ‘There is an issue on this. Can we fix it?’ ‘Yeah, no problem.’ That’s what Turki and [Saudi] have done with us, repeatedly.
When Turki expressed interest in having it here, we got together for a couple of different meetings, worked out the deal in short order, and had the good fortune of announcing it the day before Canelo-Crawford, our first fight together in Las Vegas.”
The decision to take WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia hasn’t gone down well with large sections of the WWE fanbase, and that unrest came to the fore at Crown Jewel. During the post-show, Triple H was serenaded by chants of “You sold out!” when discussing what’s next for WWE.
Make TJR Wrestling your choice for news by clicking here.
H/t to Fightful