WWE confirms 2026 Royal Rumble to be held in Saudi Arabia
For the first time since the very first edition, the WWE Royal Rumble will be held on international soil as the company officially announced the 2026 premium live event will emanate from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The news confirms Friday night’s PWInsider report and validates comments Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alsheikh made last May about talks to host the Rumble and/or WrestleMania in either 2026 or 2027.
The event will take place in January 2026 as part of the country’s Riyadh Season celebration. It will be the first-ever Rumble held outside North America and the first outside the United States since the inaugural one in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1988.
No official date or start time was announced.
It’s the latest development in a growing, and sometimes contoversial, relationship between WWE, their parent company TKO, and the Saudis which began in 2018 with two annual events with the exception of 2020 and 2021 (one each). In addition to exclusive shows like the Greatest Royal Rumble, Crown Jewel and 2024’s King & Queen of the Ring, PLEs like Elimination Chamber (2022) and Night of Champions (2023) have also been held there.
Based on previous SEC reports, WWE is believed to take in $50 million per show as part of the deal. Based on the verbiage of the press release, it’s assumed the Royal Rumble will be held in addition to the other bi-annual shows. There has been no reporting as to what WWE/TKO will generate for this deal.