Nick Khan Addresses WWE’s Saudi Arabia Plans Amid Middle East Conflict

WWE is preparing to head back to Saudi Arabia in June, despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The U.S. remains at war with neighboring Iran, and while there is a ceasefire currently in place, peace negotiations between the leaders of both nations are at an impasse.

That didn't stop WWE from announcing last week that Night of Champions would be returning to Riyadh on Saturday, June 27. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also preparing to host WrestleMania 43 next spring, and WWE President Nick Khan recently spoke on the decision to move forward with both events.

“We’re only going if it’s safe or if we’re allowed there,” Khan said to staff members during a TKO town hall on Monday. The audio of which was obtained by Post Wrestling.

“We are monitoring with our heads of security internally and with our government affairs folks externally, the situation there,” Khan said. “If U.S. citizens are allowed in at this moment in time, it is declared and deemed safe, we’ll all be going there.”

Khan did say during the town hall that WWE would only be running Night of Champions in Riyadh this time around, according to Post Wrestling, with the surrounding episodes of Raw and SmackDown taking place elsewhere. The locations of those events have yet to be announced.

Don't expect WWE to double down with WrestleMania again

The topic of WrestleMania 42 also came up during the TKO town hall, and Nick Khan spoke on the challenges that stemmed from running the event in Las Vegas, Nevada for the second year in a row.

Many folks believe the high cost of attending the show in Sin City contributed to lower ticket sales this year.

“That was ultimately my decision,” Khan said. “Maybe we don’t do that one again in terms of back-to-back, but ultimately it ended up being a successful event.”

WrestleMania 42 was one of WWE's highest-grossing events in company history, with attendance figures coming in north of 106,000 people.

It's not clear at this time when the annual 'Showcase of the Immortals' will be returning to North America. The host city for WrestleMania 44 in 2028 has yet to be announced, but Nick Khan did give his staff a bit of a tease on Monday

“Wait until you hear the announcement on where we’re going to be for WrestleMania in 2028,” Khan said without offering any other details.

Both Indianapolis, Indiana and New Orleans, Louisiana have deals in place with WWE to host a future WrestleMania.

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