WWE’s global expansion under TKO continues.
On September 12, WWE held a press conference in Las Vegas featuring Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, Nick Khan, and Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, alongside a host of past and present WWE Superstars. During the event, it was announced that WrestleMania 43 will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2027.
Speaking at the Joy Forum, WWE President Nick Khan was asked about the company’s decision to bring WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia, explaining that he viewed it as the natural next step for WWE’s global expansion.
“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 Royal Rumble here at the end of January. It’s the first time 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, 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,”
-Nick Khan
WrestleMania 43 will mark the first time WWE has staged its biggest event of the year outside North America. The move could pave the way for future international WrestleManias, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan having previously expressed his desire to bring the spectacle to the UK capital.
When asked why WWE chose Saudi Arabia over other potential hosts, Khan explained that several offers were under consideration, but the company’s long-standing partnership with Saudi Arabia ultimately proved decisive in making the final decision.
“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.”
-Nick Khan
Several WWE Superstars have expressed their excitement over the news that WrestleMania will be heading to Riyadh in 2027, including current WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on WrestleMania 43 being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
