Nick Khan says bringing WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia was the natural next step for WWE.
WWE sent social media into a frenzy by announcing Saudi Arabia as the host of WrestleMania 43 in September. Head booker Paul “Triple H” Levesque made the announcement alongside Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
During a recent appearance at the Joy Forum, WWE President Nick Khan was asked by Max Kellerman to elaborate on the company’s decision to bring its biggest premium live event of the year to Riyadh in 2027.
“It was a natural next step for us,” Khan explained. “I think at WWE, we realized a number of years ago, you can’t simply pipe American product out globally and hope to be a global product. You actually have to have boots on the ground. So, if you look at what we’ve done with our Premium Live Events—formerly known as pay-per-views—over the last few years, about half of those now take place outside of the United States.
Nick Khan says WWE will put on a spectacle in Saudi Arabia
“We’re in the eighth year of a long-term partnership with Turki Alalshikh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Faisal [Barafat, CEO of the Saudi GEA] and the [Saudi] General Entertainment Authority. 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 United States or Canada. And WrestleMania 2027, as you just mentioned, will be here in April of that year. [It’s the] first time ever WrestleMania, as you also said, 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 why Saudi Arabia made so much sense, Khan said WWE received offers from “a number of entities” outside of the US. However, he said it’s all about relationships, and the true partnership with Turki, Faisal and the GEA made sense. Khan said Turki expressed interest, so they worked out the deal over a few meetings and announced the deal.
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