Next year’s WWE Royal Rumble will be held in a location few could have expected.
As reported by Mike Johnson of PWInsider, the long-running WWE event will take place in Saudi Arabia next year for the first time ever. This will be the first time that the event has been held outside of the United States since the first Royal Rumble pay-per-view that took place in Ontario, Canada in 1988. While no official announcement has been made by WWE, the deal to host the show has been “locked in” and could be made official as soon as the Raw on Netflix premiere episode on January 6th.
WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have had an agreement to host 2 shows a year since 2018. The agreement was set for 10 years but it is unknown if time has been added onto the deal due to multiple events being unable to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the standalone Crown Jewel show is an annual fixture, Elimination Chamber and King and Queen of the Ring Premium Live Events have been previously held in Saudi Arabia. It was previously reported that the Kingdom was looking to host a major event in the future such as the Royal Rumble and potentially a WrestleMania.
In a follow-up report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, the city of Riyadh is set to be the location for the 2026 event.
WWE Preparing For 2025 Royal Rumble
The popular Premium Live Event will make its return on Saturday, February 1st at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. At the time of writing, the only official match that has been announced to accompany the two Royal Rumbles is a ladder match between Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes and challenger Kevin Owens.
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