But at the same time, we’re six months away from WrestleMania, and this is an unpredictable situation that could go either way, considering who’s in charge of fixing it. Here’s why I feel it’s way too early to talk about WWE moving WrestleMania out of Saudi Arabia.

1. They have to focus on a Plan B for Crown Jewel

Right now, there are way more pressing matters for WWE than thinking about what’s going to happen six months from now. They have a scheduled Saudi PLE in a little over a month, which will probably have to be moved considering the current security risk they would face if they go to Saudi Arabia as planned.

The thing is, WWE has no choice but to produce Crown Jewel as planned because of its commitment to ESPN, which is expecting a show on that date. The security risk isn’t going to be lifted in time for them to go in November, and considering most major entertainment events in the area have already been postponed, I think the Saudi government would understand if WWE goes to Plan B for Crown Jewel, whatever that plan is.

So for now, they have more pressing things to think about than whether they will move WrestleMania or not.

2. The unpredictability of the situation

If you follow the news, you probably know how unpredictable Trump is and how unpredictable this whole mess of a conflict is. Nobody knows what’s going to happen between now and April.

The fact of the matter is that the United States started the whole mess, and Iran decided to attack the United States’ allies in the Middle East instead of attacking the United States itself, as it’s easier to attack countries that are in the same region as you are than to go into an all-out war and attack a country that is thousands of miles away.

So the point is, we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and April, and WWE doesn’t either. Only those in charge know, and you never know. Maybe Trump will put his ego aside and actually make a deal with Iran that is going to be good for both sides between now and then. Maybe he won’t, and this will escalate even further.

But WWE is playing the waiting game right now, just like the rest of us. All they can do is slowly start making a Plan B, just in case they are forced to move the show.

3. The money side of things

The last thing we need to take into consideration is the money side of things. Yes, TKO is making big profits every quarter based on how high ticket prices have been and all of the big-money international deals they have made to bring their big PLEs to different countries, and none is bigger than the Saudi deal.

Which means that if they are forced to move WrestleMania out of Saudi Arabia next year, not only would they lose a lot of money from this, but it would also cost them a lot of money just to get a last-minute deal to move it somewhere else.

The other thing that we need to realize is that if, by some unlucky chance, they are forced to move WrestleMania out of the country next year, that only means that in 2028, Saudi Arabia will get WrestleMania anyway. They would likely prioritize Saudi Arabia over anybody else considering the amount of money they are making from the deal. So we will get a WrestleMania from Saudi Arabia eventually anyway.

Conclusion

While I think it’s too early for WWE to think about moving WrestleMania out of Saudi Arabia, I’m sure that WWE is already planning a Plan B and Plan C in case they’re forced to move it.

The bigger preoccupation for WWE right now is the November 7th show in Saudi Arabia and what they do with it, which will tell us a lot about what they will do for WrestleMania next year. If they move Crown Jewel somewhere else, then there’s a really good chance that they will move WrestleMania somewhere else next year if they have no choice.

But if they go ahead with the Crown Jewel show as planned, then we know that WrestleMania isn’t going to be moving out of Saudi Arabia next year.

In the end, the power to have these shows moved is ultimately in the hands of the employees and wrestlers, since participation in those shows is voluntary. So if nobody on the roster or in production is willing to take the risk of going to Saudi Arabia right now, WWE will have to move the show. The same goes for WrestleMania in April of next year.

So until then, all we can do is play the waiting game and hope everything will be okay by then.

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Reportedly, the country of Saudi Arabia is paying the WWE upwards of $250 million to host WrestleMania 43. Prior to 2027, only Canada (twice) was fortunate enough to host WWE’s biggest and most trademarked event since its inception in 1985. Prior to WrestleMania 43, Saudi has paid the WWE $100 million for Royal Rumble 2026 and around $20-30 million per various other Premium Live Event (PLE) shows. This relationship with Saudi Arabia has been a very lucrative one for the WWE and now TKO since 2018. However, it has come with a few headaches, too.

For example:

– Saudi Arabia’s government is based heavily on Sharia Law. You may look that up yourself, but it’s a good reason why we have “separation of church and state” here in the United States. State-run religion tends to historically dislike any other religions contrary to the one that the government practices. Further with Saudi Arabia, they are just now granting various rights and opportunities to females now that weren’t there in the past. During WWE PLEs, the country runs various ads and video segments in attempt to advertise how much they’ve evolved lately.

– The assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi occurred during October 2018, which put a ton of world attention on the country. If you’ll recall, there was political pressure on Vince McMahon to not host a recent PLE there during that time (Crown Jewel), but he still had the event anyway despite lots of political pressure not to.

– Following the Crown Jewell 2019 event, WWE wrestlers were stuck in a plan for almost full day due to a reported payment dispute that Vince McMahon had with the country of Saudi Arabia for hosting their events. While Vince and top wrestlers got the hell out of dodge via private plane, up to 200 wrestlers, production crew members, and other WWE employees were left stranded and the plane wasn’t allowed to leave… Or that’s one side of the story, as WWE claimed mechanical issues. Then why keep them on the same plane?

BUT, I would say since 2019, it’s been a smooth experience and the country of Saudi Arabia seems to like working with the TKO/Endeavor group. UFC has had 2 of its events in Saudi Arabia, for example, and there have been no hiccups with WWE. After all, both Royal Rumble and WrestleMania went to Saudi for $350 million. Safe to suggest that the relationship is doing well right now.

WrestleMania 43 will be in Riyadh… On September 19, 2026, a fuel storage depot near the Riyadh Airport was attached by drones and missiles. This was reportedly performed by Houthi, a religious group based out of the country of Yemen with close ties to Iran. Weeks prior to this, they successfully struck the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia. Want to know why gas prices shot up during September? There you go, this very attack. Other places and military bases have also been struck lately, along with a few Saudi Arabia tankers in the Red Sea. While Iran conducts its own strategy within the Strait of Hormuz, the Houthis have been performing its own attacks the Red Sea. Both waterways surround Saudi Arabia on both sides.

Why is Saudi Arabia being attacked? It’s who they know and associate themselves with lately…

During late February of 2026, Israel conducted military strikes on Iran with the United States providing additional military support on the country of Iran. Prior to this, strikes occurred during June of 2025 to “obliterate” their nuclear facilities. These strikes continued that premise, but also had direct strikes on the leadership of Iran and ended up killing the Ayatollah and other top Iranian officials.

Iran’s response has been rather unique… Instead of getting revenge directly on Israel and the United States, they’ve opted to attack any Middle East country who serves as an ally for either country. In addition to strikes directly on Israel, they’ve aimed drones and missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and of course, Saudi Arabia. Sometimes, they were aiming at United States military bases in the regions (hence the casualties), both other times they were hitting key infrastructure such as oil or natural gas refineries which takes years to rebuild (hence, another reason why gas prices are up). Iran also realized that they could control the Strait of Hormuz, which is a waterway connecting the Persian Gulf (remember that from Desert Storm of 1990-1991?) and the Gulf of Oman waterways that many Middle Eastern countries use to transport oil to various countries.

As Iran has attacked all of these different countries, most of which are allies with United States, they are causing each country to burn through their interceptor missile munition supplies to shoot down any missiles or drones that Iran sends their way. In many cases, we’re looking at $2-5 million interceptor missiles shooting down drones that might cost up to $30,000 each. Each of these allied Middle Eastern countries have burned through their protective stockpiles and now it makes them more vulnerable than ever. This military equipment can’t be made fast enough to protect against future attacks. It also costs a ton of money to make (Patriot missile types, especially).

I’m not here to assess blame, but merely to express danger that WrestleMania 43 has around them in Saudi Arabia… Look at what is surrounding Saudi Arabia as a country right now. Iran is nearby with only a waterway (Persian Gulf) and the country of Iraq between them on its Eastern border. Further, they share a Southern border with Yemen which is where the Houthis live. In other words, they are vulnerable from attacks from the South and from the East right now in their country, and that’s scary when you consider they’ve burned through interceptor missiles and other projectiles already. Saudi Arabia also has Israel to its North, while also having Lebanon to its North as well. Both countries have their own Iranian proxy groups in the form of Hamas and Hezbollah.

There’s a ton of danger surrounding Saudi Arabia as they attempt to host WWE’s biggest show during April 2027.

Now, if I were a betting man, I would suspect that WWE WrestleMania 43 will have extra security in place for this event. It’s very likely that the United States military will be on HIGH ALERT for both nights of WrestleMania 43. That’s right, TWO nights of WrestleMania to be on-guard and to ensure that nothing happens. BUT, there needs to be protection of the wrestlers flying into the event, too, and would cost money.

In my opinion, though, there presents TOO MUCH RISK on the WWE performers, any WWE employees, and any Saudi Arabian fan attending the event. Heck, any WWE fan who is able to actually travel to this from other countries, too.

So, MOVE THE DAMN EVENT!

WrestleMania 43 was supposed to be originally held in Nashville, TN. Award it back to them.

WrestleMania 42 was supposed to be originally held in New Orleans, LA but was shifted back to Las Vegas for another price gouging year. Award WM 43 to them.

Sorry, but what’s happening in the Middle East is bigger than ensuring that TKO’s executives receive 8-figure bonuses at year-end.

What you see happening now has been building since the 1940s and especially towards the United States since the 1950s following the coup of their government. Through the late 1970s, the Islamic Revolution happened and installed the religious government that has been in existence ever since and led by the Ayatollahs (3 family members with direct bloodlines) who are seen as religious figures more than leaders of a country. The current Iranian leaders have disliked the United States since their 1953 coup that reinstalled the Shah, while their ongoing rivalry with Israel was made worse with the Shah government installed by the U.S. was very favorable and friends with Israel.

Since the late 1970s, Iran has been not just an outspoken critic of the U.S. or Israel, but also funded proxy groups to help facilitate their viewpoints and to perform various attacks. For example, Hamas, who is funded a reported $100 million annually by Iran, launched attacks on Israel during October 7, 2023 which killed over 1,200 people. This deadly attack response prompted a sharp response by Israel on the Gaza Strip and would set the stage for what we’ve seen during 2025 and 2026. Prior to recent events, Israel and Palestine were always off and on peace deals or ceasefires, but politics or other events have ended those.

In other words, WrestleMania 43 happening in a nearby country is at risk being close to international and religious stuff that has been cooking for over 70 years now and has really escalated with recent attacks and other activity in the Middle East.

Right now, as of 9/22/26, Saudi Arabia has a TRAVEL ADVISORY with the entire country at Level 3, which suggests “Reconsider Travel” with additional areas inside the country considered as Level 4 for “Do not travel”.

Here is what the advisory says, and I am quoting directly from this advisory on 9/22/26:

*****

Reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia due to risk of Iranian drone and missile targeting of American interests, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans, and local laws regarding social media activity. Some areas have increased risk.

– Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive important updates and alerts from the U.S. embassy or consulate. Enrolling helps the U.S. embassy or consulate contact you or your emergency contact in an emergency.
– Review the Country Security Report for Saudi Arabia.
– Monitor local media for breaking events and be prepared to adjust your plans.
– Many prescription medications need prior approval before bringing into or taking out of Saudi Arabia. Before you travel, register any listed prescriptions at the Controlled Drug System (CDS) website. This approval process may take several weeks.
– Review our information on Terrorism and travel to High-Risk Areas.
– Have a plan to leave in an emergency that does not depend on U.S. government help. – Review our information on Crisis Response and Evacuations.
– Keep travel documents up to date and easy to access.
– Stay aware of your surroundings.
– Stay alert in large crowds or tourist spots.
– Avoid public displays of affection, particularly between same-sex couples.
– Visit Saudi Arabia’s website for information about public decency regulations.
– Do not carry, produce, use, or distribute illegal drugs in Saudi Arabia.
– Review local laws and conditions before traveling, including our Saudi Arabia country information on arrests.
– Review our information for Gay and Lesbian travelers.
– Before you travel, delete any sensitive photos, comments, or past content that might be seen as controversial or inappropriate in Saudi Arabia. Do not post, share, or like such content while in Saudi Arabia. Do this for your social media accounts, cameras, laptops, phones, and other accounts and devices.
– Visit our page regarding Arrest or Detention Abroad for more information on what happens when you or a loved one is arrested abroad.
– Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page for the latest Travel Health Information for Saudi Arabia.
– We highly recommend that you buy travel insurance before you travel. Check with your travel insurance provider about evacuation assistance, medical insurance, and trip cancelation coverage.
– Whether you’re a first time or frequent traveler, use the International Travel Checklist.

*****

Are you freakin’ nuts, TKO and WWE?

Why potentially subject your WWE “independent contractors” and employees to this?

Why cause our hard-earned tax dollars to be spent on protection so that you can make $250 million in Saudi?

Why are you putting your own fans at risk for attending this WWE event in a danger zone?

I have a solution… Each and every TKO executive MUST attend WrestleMania 43 and then have to leave the event using commercial airlines. Yeah, I guarantee this event gets moved immediately!

Read the “potential targets” section again…

Potential targets include:

– Important political, cultural, or religious locations
– Places visited by U.S. citizens and other foreigners (!!!)
– Tourist locations and large gatherings (!!!)
– Hotels, and locations where American citizens gather (!!!)
– Transportation hubs
– Markets and shopping malls
– Entertainment venues (!!!)
– Government facilities

Majority of that SCREAMS WrestleMania 43.

You can say whatever you want about the Saudi Arabia government and why WWE (now TKO) is doing business with them. We’ve been arguing that since 2018.

However, this is a discussion about SAFETY because Saudi Arabia has had missiles shot at them and drones attacking them, while having bases and critical energy infrastructure destroyed.

And this issue won’t heal itself overnight, and is in fact becoming worse. These Houthi attacks are escalating and hitting that East-West pipeline is why you’re paying over $4 per gallon unleaded and why truckers are paying a record $6+ per gallon for diesel. Anywhere something gets shipped by truck, they’ll increase their prices too.

Move the damn event!!!

WWE wrestlers need to realize that they have leverage right now. Want us to wrestle in Saudi Arabia? PAY US MORE while ensuring our SAFETY for this event.

And if you were predicting Rock vs. Roman Reigns to finally happen at this event? There’s NO WAY that the TKO would send one of its Board of Directors to this event. However, if TKO wants to make a statement, then boldly have the Rock wrestle and perform there…

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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Then I wanted to see more, but back then it was hard to find anything that wasn’t WWE or WCW, so I wasn’t able to catch more lucha until The Fight Network launched in 2005. Back then, the network was just trying to fill time with programming, so they would pick up pretty much any wrestling programming they could get. Thanks to them, I was able to watch Japanese wrestling through their deal with NOAH. I saw some of the early years of ROH and even Deep South Wrestling, which had made a deal with them without WWE’s permission. But the biggest thing for me was the fact that they were able to get a deal to air CMLL programming on the network.

Finally, I was able to watch lucha libre on television again, and I was so happy because it rekindled my passion for that style of wrestling. Sadly, it only lasted a few years before the show was canceled, and once again I was left without a way to watch lucha libre on television.

After that, there was Lucha Underground, but I didn’t really follow that product as much as I wanted to because it didn’t air on Canadian television and was kind of hard to find on streaming. I heard good things about the product, but I only saw a few episodes, so I can’t really give my opinion on it.

This brings me to today and WWE owning AAA. At first, I was really skeptical of this, as we all remember how they completely destroyed ECW after they bought the company, and having Undertaker as the head of creative for the company didn’t help.

But I gave them a chance and started watching AAA programming on the WWE YouTube channel, and I have to say that this has become my favorite show of the week to watch.

I have to give it to Taker. He was able to create a brand that was still loyal to the traditions of lucha libre while also injecting some of what makes North American wrestling great, which is character work and storytelling.

This brand revitalized the careers of a lot of guys who probably would have been on the unemployment line if it weren’t for AAA. Guys like Omos, Rey Fenix, Dragon Lee, the War Raiders, Garza and Berto, and especially El Grande Americano have all benefited from being sent to AAA.

That’s while also giving the current AAA roster a lot more exposure, which has helped them become household names and, for some of them, even get included in the WWE video game.

Already, thanks to AAA, we have two Match of the Year candidates, and we’ve seen how great El Grande Americano is as a wrestler. They took what was supposed to be a comedic character aimed at making fun of Trump’s “Golf of America” fiasco and turned him into a serious superstar in Mexico. The same goes for his sidekicks, who probably would have been released if it weren’t for this.

The AAA product brought back my love for lucha libre, and while I can miss random episodes of other WWE programming from time to time, I make sure to never miss an episode of AAA. That’s thanks to WWE and, especially, Taker, who’s been doing an awesome job with the creative direction of the brand.

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Now granted we didn’t have this thing called Youtube in 2001 that you could put the shows up on. But I think the WWF could have got WCW tv clearance back then if they really tried to. But Vince McMahon was determined to make an example out of WCW for daring to go up against him for all those years and well we got what we got. Triple A though is being allowed to succeed and that’s a good thing for wrestling in general. Triplemania 34 Night 2 which I watched was an outstanding show and I was so happy to see El Grande Americano win the Triple A Mega Championship. It’s amazing how something that was supposed to be a joke has turned into what it is now. It’s amazing what competent writing can do for someone.

Speaking of competent writing, RAW the other night was by far the best RAW in ages. Aided greatly by a crowd that was on fire for everything that was going on in front of them. I don’t think this episode of RAW would have come off quite so well had it been somewhere in front of a dead crowd in the states. Roman Reigns for all the crap he gets for being boring and predictable in the ring…well, he had his working shoes on Monday night. I jumped out of my seat twice when Penta hit the Mexican Destroyer on him both times. While Penta didn’t win, it still was a damn good match and easily will be a match of the year candidate when all the awards for the 2026 year come out.

As we descend into the Autumn of 2026 (well up here in the Northern hemisphere), the war between AEW and the WWE continues to heat up and once again the WWE is going head to head with a big AEW PPV. On September 27th both AEW and WWE will be in the same general area of greater Chicago going up against each other with competing shows. Only thing is the WWE Show which is a super show featuring talent from WWE/AAA/NXT might not be broadcast live.

If that’s the case one of a two things might be happening. One, this is something they’re gonna broadcast on that Club WWE thing. Or Two…they’re just running a show for the sake of running a show to screw with AEW. Either way they don’t really care about the WWE show. It’s just a pawn in the game of life against AEW. Well, AEW’s show sold out so even if this WWE Supershow does well it won’t matter because AEW can report they had a sellout crowd. So, even though this might be a glorified house show for the WWE, AEW has won the night even if the WWE decides to do nothing with this show in the live broadcast sense.

I was talking to a friend about this column earlier and they said the WWE should not even dignify AEW exists. The more they do stuff like this where they compete up against AEW they make AEW seem more important than they are. I mean when it comes to it, AEW has like half the viewership of the WWE on a good week. There’s no real reason why the WWE should be running shows up against AEW. This is nothing new though because it’s a tactic they have employed for the last Forty five years or so.

If someone has a big show the WWE will run up against them. NWA had Starrcade…so the WWF created Survivor Series and essentially blackmailed the cable companies to picking them over the other. If you don’t pick us…you’re not getting Wrestlemania. Well, Wrestlemania is a huge ticket item so of course they were gonna choose them over the other guys.

The WWE has always had this bully mentality. There’s plenty of room for AEW and other companies to co-exist in this world. But the WWE is all “we must destroy them”. That’s why I’m honestly surprised they’re running Triple A the way that they are. They could have pillaged the company and hoarded the top talent and the video vaults. But they aren’t doing that. I guess it’s one thing to own a company and another to let it just exist on it’s own terms.

In the end I don’t think it will matter what the WWE does on All Out weekend. Show the show on youtube…don’t…show it somewhere else…doesn’t matter. AEW’s All Out will do good for AEW and that’s all that matters.

On the plus side for the WWE, I do love that Sami Zayn has been redeemed and is the WWE Champion once again. Whether the WWE only put the belt on him because they didn’t want to do a Roman vs. CM Punk match at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia is up for debate…assuming Sami can even hold the title for that long. But some in the wrestling business think Sami is not good for business. I think they are wrong. I personally believe a good heel as champion is better than a babyface who destroys everyone in his path. I like the chase and Smackdown has a whole crop of guys who will make for great chasers for Sami’s title. Though we have to get passed Money in the Bank in October and see what happens then with that.

That is it for this week. As always you can leave feedback down below, over on Twitter or email me directly at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

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