WWE Royal Rumble bombshell as main event to leave North America for first time ever after historic agreement reached

WWE said that, for the first time ever, the Royal Rumble event will take place outside of North America the following year.

Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana will host this year’s Rumble on February 1.

However, as part of the wrestling giants’ profitable connection with the Middle Eastern country, the event will take place in January of next year and be broadcast in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

WWE released the following statement: “On behalf of HE Turki Alalshikh, WWE and The General Entertainment Authority (GEA) announced that the 39th annual Royal Rumble will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in January 2026.

“This landmark event marks the first time the Royal Rumble will be hosted outside of North America.”

The Royal Rumble is not the first time it has been held outside of the US.

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In 1988, the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, hosted the first-ever WWE event.

In 2018, the wrestling organization and the Saudi Ministry of Sport inked a ten-year agreement.

As of right now, there is no assurance that the agreement will be extended.

Paul Triple H Levesque, the head of creative and chief content officer for WWE, recently hinted that the arrangement might be prolonged.

Over the years, there has been debate about the alliance between the government of Saudi Arabia and the sports entertainment giants.

Until the historic bout between Natalya and Lacey Evans at Crown Jewel in 2019—the fourth event after the two teams signed their partnership—Saudi officials first prohibited women from competing.

The savage killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a well-known opponent of the Saudi regime, in 2018 has brought attention to the kingdom’s alleged violations of human rights.

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