• Triple H Says WWE Has Helped Drive Change For Women In Saudi Arabia
WWE signed a 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia in 2018 under which the company is obligated to hold two Premium Live Events in the kingdom every year. In recent years, they have also held episodes of RAW and SmackDown there.
At the starting of the partnership, women weren’t allowed to compete at the shows in Saudi Arabia. Fortunately, that has changed over the course of time.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show this week, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H said that his company has been a part of creating change for women in Saudi Arabia.
“That’s been their goal since the beginning, to change their perception, to change how they are, to open up that umbrella for women and with the country. It takes time. You can’t just do that stuff all at once, or you alienate all the people that are in front of it and had an old long-standing belief. You’ve got to do it over time.
I truly believe that to initiate change, you got to be a part of it. You can’t just sit back on the sidelines and say, ‘We’re not going to participate in that and these people don’t do things right.’ You need to be there and be part of that change. We’ve been part of that change since the beginning. Proudly been a part of that change.”
WWE will hold Royal Rumble 2026 in Saudi Arabia and will host WrestleMania 43 in 2027 there as well.
• TKO Set To Abandon Vince McMahon’s WWE Approach
WWE has broken a lot of records since being bought by TKO. The company has started holding international events frequently, which have been very profitable.
TKO President Mark Shapiro spoke at the Goldman Sachs Conference, where he said that a hike in ticket prices for WWE events is coming as the promotion is way behind UFC, another company under the TKO umbrella.
“WWE is not where the UFC is yet on ticket yields. We have our work to do there. But we’ve seen a meaningful increase as evidenced by the 59% margin 2nd quarter. Ticket yields and site fees play a big part in driving that. We know we have more room to grow. Why do we know that? Because UFC is breaking records everywhere they go.
We know we have a lot of room there because Vince McMahon was primarily pricing tickets for families and wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity there. Now that we’ve seen what we can do with UFC, we’re replicating that in terms of ticket yield and holding back and advance sales when it comes to OnLocation on the WWE side and it’s working out really well.
If we have a St. Louis going up against a Des Moines, Iowa, and you want us back there and you’ve broken records and sold out both your arenas, you have to pay for us to come back or else we’ll take it to another town. And that goes for NXT, RAW and SmackDown on the WWE side.”
WWE is reportedly planning to hold WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia, which could turn out to be the most profitable event in the company’s history.
• WWE’s Big Plan For Wrestlepalooza Revealed
The first ever WWE Wrestlepalooza Premium Live Event is set to take place in Indianapolis on Saturday, September 20th. It is shaping up to be one of the biggest events of the year.
While speaking about the new event at Goldman Sachs Conference, TKO President Mark Shapiro stated that they’re planning to bring it on par with major WWE shows like WrestleMania or SummerSlam.
“Next weekend we’re launching in Indianapolis with a brand new franchise, which we hope will be an annual recurring franchise in Wrestlepalooza. Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner that we can bring back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right.
Triple H is spending night and day creatively around making that what we think it could be, which is another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam. Those two stand out above the rest. Royal Rumble is right beneath that. We think Wrestlepalooza can get into that quadrant.”
Below is the current match card for Wrestlepalooza:
– Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena
– AJ Lee & CM Punk vs. Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch & World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins
– Vacant Women’s World Championship Match: IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer
– The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) vs. The Vision (Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed)
Triple H confirmed that WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is also set to appear at the event.
• Good News For AEW
WWE has used many opportunities to counterprogram AEW over the last couple of years. Recent reports stated that the company will do it more aggressively after Tony Khan changed All Out’s time to prevent the show from going head-to-head with Wrestlepalooza on September 20th.
According to a new report from WrestleVotes, a source with direct knowledge of WWE’s remaining 2025 schedule stated that the company is not planning to counterprogram any other AEW pay-per-view events this year.
While nothing is confirmed yet, it is possible that WWE starts doing it again next year.
