As first reported last week, WWE’s 2026 Royal Rumble event will take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Today (Jan. 6), ahead of Raw’s premiere on Netflix this evening, they’ve made it official. Here’s the announcement:

SAUDI ARABIA TO HOST ROYAL RUMBLE®️ IN 2026

January 6, 2025 – WWE®️, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), in partnership with The General Entertainment Authority (GEA), on behalf of HE Turki Alalshikh, announced that the 39th annual Royal Rumble will be held in January 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This landmark event marks the first time the Royal Rumble will be hosted outside of North America.

Royal Rumble is an annual WWE Premium Live Event that includes both a men’s and women’s match with the winners eliminating all opponents and securing a Championship opportunity at WrestleMania®.

In a statement, HE Turki Alalshikh said, “Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the Royal Rumble for the first time outside North America reflects the General Entertainment Authority’s ongoing commitment to bringing the world’s largest and most important entertainment events to the Kingdom. Through this partnership with WWE, we aim to enhance the entertainment sector and deliver a transformative experience that attracts a wide audience.”

He added, “We are excited to see this historic event as part of Riyadh Season’s activities and look forward to providing an exceptional experience for wrestling fans from around the world, whom we welcome to all events hosted in Saudi Arabia.”

“WWE is a global enterprise and it only made sense to expand our relationship with the Kingdom by bringing one of our biggest annual events to Riyadh in January of 2026,” said Nick Khan, WWE President.

The announcement of Royal Rumble being held in Riyadh in 2026 marks a continued expansion to the successful partnership between WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which has already seen record-breaking events including Crown Jewel, Elimination Chamber, King & Queen of the Ring, Night of Champions, SmackDown and Monday Night RAW.

The Rumble is a “Big 4” (or “Big 5”) event for WWE, and one of its most popular. It’s also incredibly important to the company’s storylines, as it officially starts the Road to WrestleMania each year and helps determine two of that show’s main event title matches. It will be the most prominent event they’ve held as part of their ten-year contract with the Saudi GEA. Thus far, there have been 12 PPV/PLEs and two television tapings in the KSA since the deal was first signed in 2018.

WWE has been criticized for helping to “sportswash” Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record, especially after the state-ordered murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi shortly before 2018’s initial Crown Jewel. But the Saudi GEA has had a great deal of success polishing its image by partnering with and financially backing numerous sports events and leagues over the past several years, including with UFC, which like WWE is owned by TKO. And they’ve paid WWE, TKO and others a lot of money to achieve that success.

Via the UFC partnership and his work in the boxing world, GEA Chairman Turki Al-Sheikhhas has emerged as a key figure in the combat sports world. Earlier last year, Al-Sheikh spoke about wanting to bring a Rumble or WrestleMania to his country.

One down, and it’s hard to imagine he won’t land a ‘Mania before the end of the decade.