WWE Prez Nick Khan Explains Return to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions Despite Ongoing Turmoil in the Middle East

The WWE president has addressed the pertinent concerns regarding the company's return to a conflict-ridden Middle East in June.

WWE Prez Nick Khan Explains Return to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions Despite Ongoing Turmoil in the Middle East

John Cena returned to WWE as the WrestleMania 42 host [via- Arab News]

In Short
  • WWE President Nick Khan confirmed the company's return to Saudi Arabia for Night of Champions on June 27, contingent on safety.
  • Khan emphasized ongoing monitoring of the Middle East situation through internal security and government affairs teams.
  • WrestleMania 42 was noted as one of WWE's highest-grossing events despite mixed fan reactions to the show's match quality.

WWE President Nick Khan assured staff while speaking at a TKO town hall this past Monday that the company was monitoring the situation in the Middle East. WWE has announced its return to Saudi Arabia for the upcoming Night of Champions PLE on June 27 in Riyadh. Khan said they’re only going there if it’s safe or if they’re allowed to visit the country at this point in time.

He also emphasized that they’re keeping an eye on the situation with their heads of security internally and their government affairs people externally. Nick Khan, who sits on the Board of Directors for TKO, stressed that if the US citizens were allowed entry in that part of the world at this juncture, it’s deemed safe, and that’s why WWE would go there.

These details, courtesy of Post Wrestling, also contained an important bit regarding WWE running Raw and SmackDown from the same venue around the PLE, as they have done in the past couple of years. It’s not happening this time around for a change, as stated by Mr. Khan, according to an audio recording of the internal call obtained by the aforementioned outlet.

The venue for SmackDown before Night of Champions and the subsequent Raw is expected to be announced in the foreseeable future. Speaking of the premium live event slated for late June, it’s already looking like a big-time show, with the official poster for it revealing that Roman Reigns will work the event.

Another major name on the poster is Oba Femi. The fans are convinced that he might end up taking this year’s King of the Ring crown in Riyadh. ‘The Ruler’ is fresh off his thumping of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and he announced the Oba Femi open challenge on Raw this past Monday after squashing Grayson Waller.

WWE unlikely to run back-to-back WrestleMania from same venue again

WrestleMania this year had its fair share of criticism, with the majority of fans not liking the concept of running the biggest wrestling show of the year from the same venue in back-to-back years. That repeat business in Las Vegas, coupled with astronomical ticket pricing, hurt the overall WrestleMania 42 attendance across both nights, as it collectively drew 106,072 fans, down from last year’s 118,641.

John Cena returned to WWE as the WrestleMania 42 host
John Cena returned to WWE as the WrestleMania 42 host [via- WWE]

Nick Khan said in the aforementioned town hall that it was ultimately his decision. He added that there’s a chance WWE wouldn’t do it again. But he didn’t miss out on stating the financial success of this year’s Mania despite the hiccups it had. WWE noted in its press release that WrestleMania 42 became one of the highest-grossing events in company history.

The show also created a new digital record by generating over 1.3 billion views across all social media platforms. This stat was up 18% from WrestleMania 41. The most recent edition of the pop-culture extravaganza saw a stark difference in the quality of matches and feel-good moments across both nights.

While the first night caught the ire of the fans for having absurdly short-length matches, especially those involving the women, its Sunday counterpart fired on all cylinders with an all-time classic main event that saw Roman Reigns overcome CM Punk for his seventh world title win in WWE. The second night also witnessed the apparent in-ring retirement of Brock Lesnar after his loss to Oba Femi.

‘The Beast’ left his belongings in the ring and bowed to the fans packing the stadium. The main event of WrestleMania Saturday pitting Cody Rhodes against Randy Orton came nowhere near matching the excellence of Reigns vs. Punk, which was pro wrestling at its best. Orton failed to capture his fifteenth world title in a Pat McAfee-hit showdown with Rhodes. It left a bad taste in the fans’ mouths.

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