MR. TITO: TKO’s Corporate Greed Ruined the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble Held in Saudi Arabia
Yesterday afternoon, the TKO Corporation held the 2026 edition of WWE’s Royal Rumble, or as I call it, the “Oil Rumble” because TKO is accepting something around $100 million of Saudi Arabia’s money to host this year’s rumble and the majority of those funds are from decades of price gouging other countries as being part of a cartel. By the way, Saudi Arabia is also paying a reported $250 million to host Wrestlemania 43 during 2027. Source for these financial numbers comes from Yahoo! Sports, among other places quoting the same figures.
WWE Royal Rumble 2026 was kind of just there… It’s a culmination of TKO Corporation’s greed and hosting a big event in a country that doesn’t deserve it. Now, don’t get me wrong here folks, I have nothing personally against anyone living in Saudi Arabia. Mmmmmkay? My issue is that events such as Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble were BUILT by North American audiences and those audiences should enjoy the riches of attending such events locally. The only exception that I’d grant, but on a limited basis, would be England who has supported WWE heavily for years. The only reason Saudi Arabia is hosting Royal Rumble in 2026 and Wrestlemania for 2027 is due to their ability to cut $100 million or $250 million checks to the TKO Corporation.
Creatively, Royal Rumble 2026 did its job… I 100% agree with Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan winning their respective rumbles and becoming the #1 contenders for both divisions. Why? Both are the most consequential stars in their divisions and have the biggest emotional connections to the audiences. Fans are HUNGRY to see the Roman Reigns from 2020-2023 to return and not the summer vacationing teacher that we’ve endured during 2024-2025. Liv Morgan, since her heel turn and pushing sexiness, has been the “straw that stirs the drink” that not only creates emotion in the division but crosses over to the men’s division such as her work with Dominik Mysterio. Furthermore, Gunther AND Drew McIntyre should have won because their opponents were upper midcarders without that extra special something-something to make them appeal like main eventers.
For anyone thirsty to blame everything on Triple H, it’s hard to find any creative decisions to nitpick on other than say maybe a few wasted spots in the rumble featuring multiple wrestlers wearing masks. And yes, that includes La Parka whose newer version looked like a shell of the older version.
The issue with 2026’s Royal Rumble is that (a) you’re asking 60-70 performers to fly around 13 hours and become massively jet lagged by jumping ahead into multiple time zones.
Then, (b), you’re asking 60-70 performers to “relax” in a country who is still evolving… Yeah, you know how the female wrestlers are dressed like they are all Power Rangers? Well, they can’t quite do much sight seeing in a country that is still learning how to provide freedoms to women. On top of that, Saudi Arabia has quite the police state and controls literally where everyone goes or what everyone does especially for anyone from different countries.
I feel for the female WWE wrestlers there… Those complete bodysuits have to be uncomfortable and probably wore each performer out by overheating. For any female performers who lasted long inside that ring, they probably slept quite well on the plane flight back from pure exhaustion.
And then you have the environment itself… Last year, for example, I wanted to attend the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis on a whim and I just did it. I had the freedom to buy tickets, albeit very expensive tickets. Here in Saudi, you can’t quite do that… They are very selective on who goes. Notice the fewer amounts of females in the crowd? While males mostly attend WWE events here in North America, its at least a 70-30 ratio there at most. Had to be like a 98 to 2 ratio here in Saudi. On top of much needed gender evolution, Saudi people also lack economic freedom and finances to attend big events like North Americans can freely do. And get this, their ticket prices were MUCH LOWER than they are in North America. WWE didn’t control ticket prices here, as that was all controlled by the Saudi government. Even with CHEAPER prices, they struggled to fill that makeshift stadium that they built for the Oil Rumble 2026.
There were many empty seats at the event, as maybe Saudi built TOO BIG of a stadium that matches the current demand of those who could or wanted to attend.
Seemed to me that the crowd size became bigger and bigger as the night went on, and the event seemed to be full by the time the Men’s Royal Rumble began.
Hmmmmm… The stadium was quite empty for the Women’s Royal Rumble. Gee, why was that?
Well, when your country operates under a government that bases itself fully under the laws of a religion, aka “Sharia Law”, then the centuries’ long held beliefs of said religion are still firmly in place. For many countries in the region, women still have to cover themselves up heavily while being denied rights. While Saudi Arabia improved in recent years towards things women are allowed to do, most married wives need permission from their husband to do certain things and that includes getting out of a bad marriage. Thus, when you have a belief system that women are property and their lives are controlled, many potential male attendees of a WWE event might not be excited to see free women wrestling in a Royal Rumble match. While the WWE ladies were covered, those bodysuits were quite tight on most of them and that likely offended many in that country. HENCE why the stadium was empty for the opening Womens’ Rumble Match, in my opinion.
Having WWE’s #2 or #3 top event in a country that DID NOT build it into a successful franchise deflates that event… Even during weaker WWE years, North American fans always went bonkers for the Royal Rumble EVEN WHEN the booking was bad (such as the 2014 Rumble, when Del Rio or Sheamus won, or any of the mid 1990s ones). While the crowd did open up towards the end of the Rumble, it wasn’t as excited as North American crowds were towards this event.
Because, again, if you wanted to attend the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble, you did so on your own expensive dime. You WANTED to be there and were willing to pay a ton of money to do so. I was there in Indianapolis, as 70,000+ of us PACKED the streets of Indy that day. The atmosphere was full of energy and excitement, and if you rewatch that event, it showed. Indy fans made Jey Uso look like a real star.
I’m sure many of you will say that I “hate Saudi Arabia”. No, I just hate the concept of another country, who has been responsible for higher energy prices, using $100 million of their oil money to buy things that were made in America. And they are only purchasing these events to help sanitize their past and create a presentation that everything is OK now. If everything was OK, then let this country have fair elections to choose its leaders instead of the absolute monarchy that is in place right now along with the inability to freely practice the religion of your choice that isn’t state-run. There’s a reason why we have “separation of church and state” here, and why problems occur here when that’s relaxed.
Let’s face facts… The WWE Corporation, formerly run by Vince McMahon, and now the TKO Corporation, run primarily by the Endeavor/Silver Lake folks, are GREEDY and only care about money. Going to Saudi Arabia for the Royal Rumble was an easy $100 million decision to jerk off its shareholders, just as accepting $250 million for Wrestlemania 43 is as well. Forcing WWE fans to pay $29.99 to ESPN is also a greed-based decision by TKO and that app SUCKS to use to watch WWE events. TKO has openly admitted to raising ticket prices on purpose to maximize revenue obtained at events.
What you saw in Saudi Arabia yesterday at the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble was a bi-product of that greed by the TKO Corporation. Wrestlers were tired from the traveling and their moods weren’t the best having to be in a country that isn’t fully free. But Rumble in Saudi is not about them, as it’s about the brand being there to obtain that $100 million check.
Next year, Wrestlemania 43 will be there… Same staleness and lack of energy issues will exist for that show as well, and it’s for TWO NIGHTS. That’s right, we get to watch TWO shows in this corporate and controlled environment. Oh, what a joy!
But hey, we’ll probably get Roman vs. Rock at Wrestlemania 43, which is probably what at least $50 million of that $250 million is paying for.
It would take Rock vs. Roman for me to want to watch another event held in Saudi Arabia. These events lack energy or excitement, the atmosphere is stale, and the wrestlers deserve a bigger piece of the financial pie when wrestling there. We know that they aren’t, as a big lump sum paid by a country isn’t in the same financial category as tickets sold or merchandise purchased.
Overall, Rumble 2026 was an OK show, but it just lacked energy and excitement for me because WWE remains a complete “fish out of water” when going to countries that didn’t fully help them become a powerhouse company. North America and most European countries (England, France, Spain, Italy) did, and hence the energy is there for most bigger events. Here, it’s not and it’s deflating watching these shows during an afternoon as a viewer.
Happy, though, that Roman and Liv were the winners and let’s see BOTH get on major rolls for the rest of 2026. WWE needs Roman Reigns to be a serious wrestler again, as his vacationing and film shooting diminished the major star that we saw from 2020-2023.
Not a great Rumble PLE, but I don’t blame anyone who technically works for “WWE”. TKO is a greedy corporation and Nick Khan cares too much about numbers on a spreadsheet versus quality. He sucks.
Here are a few random notes and observations from Rumble 2026:
– Having 2 El Grande Americanos was stupid and felt incredibly out of place for this show. And both versions barely lasted, making it an even bigger waste.
– Mr. Iguana needs to NEVER be seen on WWE television ever again. Seriously. Complete clown show. If we’re going to use reptile puppets, then bring back Santino.
– I understand there is meaning behind “Royce Keys”, but damn that’s a massive name downgrade for something as cool as “Powerhouse Hobbs”. Despite his big debut, though, he barely did anything and could barely move inside that ring. There comes a point where the muscle mass becomes too much on the tendons in your arms and legs to do anything. I wish him luck, but this isn’t a massive free agent signing. Gotta be quick on your feet and not just stand there and look puzzled like someone just ran over your foot with a car.
– No Chris Jericho debut, but I’m OK with that. On either RAW or Smackdown this week, if that countdown hits and Jericho comes out to declare that he’s in the 2026 Elimination Chamber match, that works more effectively than debuting in front of a Saudi audience who might not appreciate your WWE return as much.
– Happy for Brie Bella, the one true “surprise” entrant of the Royal Rumble. And the fans in Saudi Arabia popped for it, too, remembering who she was married to. If I were the WWE, I’d push the Bella Twins HARD as a Tag Team and go after the tag titles. With both being older, tagging up can keep both ladies used in a conservative fashion.
– I really don’t care who attacked Bron Breakker. Ohhhh, another masked man who can do Seth Rollins’s moveset. Just getting old… You’re creating mysteries about a WEAK Vision stable that just isn’t working and is wasting a perfectly good Paul Heyman as its wiseman.
– Oba Femi looked impressive in the Rumble match until Brock Lesnar arrived. That tells me that Oba has a while go to before being pushed as a top WWE guy. The reason why Lesnar is so effective is that he’s legitimately fast for his size. Femi should learn from what he saw and invest in more flexibility drills or cardio because just standing there and waiting for people to bounce off of you gets old after a while. Lesnar is effective because he’s aggressive and comes at you like a wild beast attacking its prey.
– Watching the other females in the Rumble versus Chelsea Green made me think that they aren’t really that much over than her. It’s amazing how much wearing a full body suit can neutralize someone, particularly Tiffany and Alexis.
– Shoutouts to several on the NoDQ Review last week. They spent damn near a half an hour debating how Finn Balor should win the Royal Rumble when they could have wasted their breath on other more interesting topics. I was HOWLING with laughter when Finn Balor didn’t even appear in the Rumble match. Oops!
– There was one spot in the Women’s Rumble where someone entered the ring by climbing to the top rope and like 5-6 women were standing there, waiting for said person to jump on them. Completely blatant and stupid. WWE has to STOP doing that.
– I didn’t see money in Gunther vs. Roman until they were the final 2 last night in the Rumble. In case you missed it, while Goldberg and Cena could not defeat the Sleeper Hold, Roman got out of it… But what I LOVED about Gunther’s Rumble performance is that he was selling a leg injury because he was in a match earlier with AJ Styles. Hence why his Sleeper Hold might not been as effective against a more energetic Roman Reigns.
– Randy Orton looked incredible in the Rumble. How does he still have more in that tank, despite the mileage and injuries. “RKO out of No Where” always gets over with me.
– I’m pretty confident in my Wrestlemania predictions… I believe we’re going to see Roman challenge CM Punk for his title with a slight chance of Seth Rollins joining unless he’s feuding with someone from the Vision. Cody Rhodes is going to win the Elimination Chamber and we’ll see Drew vs. Cody. On the women’s side, I don’t care how it’s booked as long as Liv Morgan wins the title somewhere. Rest of that division is a confused mess. And then after Wrestlemania 42, the Rock is going to appear and challenge Roman Reigns at the $250 million Wrestlemania 43.
Could Rumble have been better? Sure, but overall, both Rumble matches were decent and the two singles matches, Gunther/Styles and Drew/Sami, were good. I didn’t see anything out of that Sami match that suggests he should headline and win a World Title at Wrestlemania 43. We’re at the peak of his career right now and there’s nothing left in the tank to get even more over. Rumble 2026 was hampered by being in Saudi Arabia, as the wrestlers were tired, women had to wrestle in body suits, and everything has TKO’s corporate micro-managed stamp on it.
Go ahead and keep crying about Triple H… He has ZERO say in how TKO operates, nor does he have any control over Nick Khan. Remove HHH out of the picture and you’ll get what the former agents at Endeavor want and those guys represented many in Hollywood. HHH is the last remaining person keeping the WWE looking like WWE… Once he’s gone, TKO will put in their YES MAN who creates storylines based on what TKO specifically wants or what the Artificial Intelligence (AI) writes.
Triple H didn’t negotiate with Saudi Arabia. FACT. Triple H didn’t negotiate with any corporate sponsor that sponsored Royal Rumble 2026, FACT. And Triple H didn’t negotiate with ESPN to allow WWE fans to be price gouged for $29.99 per month, literally doubling or tripling what fans used to pay on Peacock or WWE Network.
Many are foolishly dreaming about Vince McMahon returning without thinking about how he micro-managed creative while harassing women into signing NDAs. But don’t forget, Vince (a) hired Nick Khan and (b) begin the deals with Saudi Arabia. Vince also sold to Endeavor. Sure, bring back the guy who sowed the seeds of WWE becoming more corporate while also harming women. Don’t look now, Ashley Massaro’s name just came up again as her name just appeared in the Epstein Files…
You cannot celebrate Liv Morgan’s recent few years and Rumble win without considering the 1 guy who consistently tried to push her and that was Triple H. Vince didn’t want to push someone like Liv at all.
It’s hard to fly wrestlers 13 hours across multiple timezones into a very restrictive country and expect a great show. Won’t happen now, nor will it happen in over a year for Wrestlemania 43, especially for 2 nights of it.
TKO is sucking the life out of the WWE and once all of these veteran wrestlers and backstage folk are gone, it’s going to suck real bad and even more sponsors will be plastered all over these shows.
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