After weeks of speculation over the status of the event, WWE Crown Jewel 2026 will still take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 7th. although the show has moved to The Venue unlike Riyadh’s seasonal stadium due to the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. These conflicts have seen the target of missile strikes Riyadh King Khalid International Airportand King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, which killed 14 people and seriously injured more than 320 others.
Despite these recent attacks leading to US Department of State warning people not to travel to Saudi Arabia, WWE is still planning to travel there, which has naturally caused some concern among the roster. According to a new report Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful SelectMany WWE Superstars, including some top-level talent, have made it clear to WWE officials that they do not want to be booked for the show due to the dangers surrounding the country at the moment.
Sapp also noted that a talent who is actually booked on the show has voiced concerns about traveling, even though WWE officials have reiterated to them that safety precautions are paramount for this trip. These concerns have led to WWE hiring a smaller crew than usual and not requiring talent not booked for the show to travel.
Crown Jewel will be a trio of events in Saudi Arabia that are either hosted by or co-hosted by TKO, with the other two events being Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbili on October 31st and Power Slap 26 on November 6th.
The relocation was for security reasons
WWE Crown Jewel 2026 will be held at the same venue as the WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Premium Live Event back in January, although there was some discussion about where the company would move the show if Riyadh Seasonal Stadium, a purpose-built temporary venue for Crown Jewel, was not secure enough.
Fightful Select was told the move to a different building was made for safety reasons, not any ticketing issues as some had previously speculated. Saudi sources claim that the move to a smaller arena is largely due to the fact that Riyadh simply does not have enough big arenas at the moment, with the exception of the Kingdom Arena. However, Al Hilal, one of the football/soccer teams that play in the Saudi Professional League, uses the Kingdom Arena as their home venue, and since the Saudi Pro League season is in full swing and started in August, the venue was off-limits to WWE.
At the time of writing, Crown Jewel currently has four games signed, including two WWE Crown Jewel Championship matches in men’s and women’s divisions. For the men’s heavyweight division, WWE World Champion Roman Reigns will face WWE Undisputed Champion Sami Zayn, and for the women, WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green will face WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan. Elsewhere on the card, The Vision will defend the WWE World Tag Team Championship Against Penta and Jevon Evans, meanwhile Cody Rhodes will try to settle his score with Randy Orton in the Last Man Standing match. It’s not yet known if more matches will be added, as WWE will be taking a smaller-than-usual crew to Riyadh.
