WrestleMania 43 in 2027 will be the first-ever Wrestlemania held by WWE outside of North America. The company announced in early September that they'd be bringing their annual biggest show of the year to Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season.
As expected, WWE dealt with some social media backlash about their decision to take WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia, a partner that has been controversial since the country's relationship with WWE was established in 2018.
Still, WWE President Nick Khan defends the move and says the event will be a spectacle for fans all over the world.
During an appearance at Joy Forum, Khan addressed running WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia and said that the move was a natural progression within the partnership they currently have in place with the country.
“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."Nick Khan
Khan added, "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 think people will come to the Kingdom to see our show and we’re going to put on a spectacle."
Khan also addressed why Saudi Arabia was the right place to run WrestleMania for the first time outside of North America. Khan confirmed that other countries were interested in hosting the event.
“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."Nick Khan
WWE has worked with Saudi Arabia since 2018 and is in the middle of a ten-year partnership with them.
WWE is reportedly set to pull out all the stops to make WrestleMania 43 the ultimate spectacle. Reports indicate that the company has contacted major talent like Steve Austin and The Rock for appearances at the event.
In 2026, WrestleMania 42 is scheduled to return to Las Vegas, the site of WrestleMania 41 this year. Matches for that event haven't been announced at this time, but it was rumored that Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns was a planned match for the show.
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