Why WWE Could Be Making Big Saudi Arabia Change In 2025

The WWE Royal Rumble is heading to Saudi Arabia in 2026 but it looks like that means a major change to the calendar before then.

The 2025 Royal Rumble will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 1 as the road to WrestleMania in WWE begins in earnest.

So far, there are only three matches confirmed for the massive show with both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches taking place alongside Cody Rhodes defending his WWE Championship in a ladder match against Kevin Owens.

LA Knight was the first man to declare his place in the Royal Rumble and since then CM Punk and John Cena also revealed their involvement in the match. Roman Reigns will end a five-year streak at the Royal Rumble as he takes part in the 30-man bout as well.

WWE Only Making 1 Saudi Trip In 2025?

It has since been announced that WWE is taking the Royal Rumble to Saudi Arabia in 2026 as part of the ongoing partnership with the country. WWE signed a ten-year deal with Saudi Arabia in 2018 to bring premium live events to the Middle East. The first one was held in April 2018 when the Greatest Royal Rumble took place with Braun Strowman winning a massive fifty-man Royal Rumble match which featured a varied cast of characters including Shane McMahon, The Great Khali, and Hornswoggle.

Given that the 2026 Royal Rumble will take place in January there have been many questions about WWE’s shows in Saudi Arabia for the rest of that year and 2025. Fightful Select has now reported that WWE sources have only heard of one Saudi Arabia event planned for 2025 with that said to be taking place in June in Jeddah.

If that is the only Saudi Arabia show in 2025, it will be the first time WWE has held just one show in the country in a calendar year since their deal was signed outside of the COVID-ravaged years of 2020 and 2021.