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FREE POST: Latest on WWE Saudi Arabia trip

Added 2025-06-23 19:15:48 +0000 UTC

We have an update on what talent have heard...or not heard about WWE Night of Champions and Smackdown this weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There were reports Monday that "US Jets scrambling over Saudi Arabia" leading to natural concern for the event.

As of 2:30 PM Eastern, talent that were slated to go to Saudi Arabia had not been updated on any changes. They're planned to head over mid-week via a charter plane that would have them there for Smackdown unless a change is made. As highlighted yesterday, there have been additional fan events that were expected to be announced.

Talent we spoke to said they expect that WWE is figuring things out like everyone else is right now.

For those asking, talent that we've spoken to are no longer bonused for the Saudi shows, as those types of things are baked into their contracts now. There is not an additional financial incentive for the talent on that trip that we've heard of.

There is also word within WWE that there were some early arriving staff that are stuck in Qatar while airspaces are temporarily shutdown. They were en route to Riyadh. There have been additional staff from WWE in Saudi for two weeks, but a few staff were stuck in Qatar during the suspension of flights.

As of Monday evening, there were government meetings in Saudi and they were still planning for the event to take place.