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Reason Why WWE Made PLE Change To Night Of Champions

By John Canton • Published 21st April 2023
wwe night of champions ple

There is an update on why WWE Night of Champions has replaced King & Queen of the Ring on Saturday, May 27th.

After previously announcing that the May 27th Premium Live Event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was going to be called King & Queen of the Ring, WWE announced on social media over a week ago that there was a change and it’s now called Night Of Champions. They simply issued this statement.

“The May 27th Premium Live Event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will now be WWE Night of Champions!”

No reason was given for the change, but Night of Champions is a PPV name that WWE used from 2007 to 2015. In 2016, WWE decided to bring back the classic NWA/WCW Clash of Champions name to run the event in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. This year, Night of Champions is back as the name.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the reason for the change was a booking decision.

“The reason the 5/27 show in Saudi Arabia was changed from King & Queen of the Ring to Night of Champions was a booking decision. We were told it will become obvious why after the Puerto Rico show and in the build to the show.”

The Puerto Rico show is Backlash on May 6th.

Something that fans on social media noticed with the change is that the Universal Title reign of Roman Reigns will reach 999 days on the day of Night of Champions on May 27th. Perhaps the booking decision that WWE has in mind is that they will want to push the story about if Reigns can beat whoever his Night of Champions is to hold that title for an incredible 1000 days.

Another thing worth noting is that the current Undisputed WWE (Raw & Smackdown) Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens don’t usually work the WWE shows in Saudi Arabia. This could mean they will lose the titles back to The Usos on April 28th when they have their championship rematch, but that’s just a theory at this point.

The upcoming WWE Premium Live Event schedule for the main roster looks like this:

* May 6 is Backlash @ Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

* May 27 is Night of Champions @ Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia.

* July 1 is Money in the Bank @ The O2 Arena in London, England.

* August 5 is SummerSlam @ Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.