{"id":69017,"date":"2026-11-05T13:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T13:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/69017\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T13:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T13:58:09","slug":"tko-remains-optimistic-on-saudi-arabia-partnership-despite-conflict-in-middle-east-post-wrestling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/69017\/","title":{"rendered":"TKO remains optimistic on Saudi Arabia partnership despite conflict in Middle East – POST Wrestling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nImage Credit: WWE<\/p>\n

A series of attacks on Saudi Arabia this fall has drawn considerable concern regarding TKO\u2019s events in the area.<\/p>\n

WWE is heading out to Riyadh this weekend for its annual Crown Jewel Premium Live Event (PLE). The show comes weeks after Riyadh International Airport was subject to a series of attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, including a missile strike that injured over 300 and killed 13.<\/p>\n

And, looking even further ahead, WWE plans to stage WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia for the first time ever next year, easily their biggest event yet in their lengthy partnership with the country.<\/p>\n

Among those not worried about conflict in the region are the top names inside TKO, who are \u201call systems go\u201d for the upcoming shows.<\/p>\n

Mark Shapiro, President and COO of TKO, was asked about the concerns of future events in the Middle East being cancelled due to ongoing conflict in the region during the company\u2019s quarterly earnings call this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell you that the risk [of events being cancelled] is extremely minimal,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve endured the tough climb this year thus far. We\u2019ve had no events interrupted. We\u2019ve staged all our events in the Middle East flawlessly. We have three events left this year, one being November 7 with Crown Jewel, which should be a big one for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, it\u2019s hard to tell what level of concern there will be on a trip to Saudi Arabia months from now, when WrestleMania is scheduled to go down.<\/p>\n

Conflict in the Middle East is high due to America\u2019s war on Iran, started by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year. After a harsh rejection of Trump and his Republican party during this week\u2019s midterm elections, a result Trump has admitted came partially due to the war in Iran,<\/a> Shapiro questioned whether the current administration will try to turn down the heat in the region soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows what\u2019s real or what\u2019s true,\u201d Shapiro said when talking about the government\u2019s plans in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Shapiro didn\u2019t seem worried about WWE\u2019s 2027 WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia, even if contingency plans must be activated. He said that they have already been paid half upfront by Saudi Arabia and that, even if the event has to be moved to America, they expect the other half to be paid as well.<\/p>\n

Later in the call, a smaller detail about next year\u2019s WrestleMania was mentioned by Andrew Schleimer: Despite the event taking place in the Middle East, WWE plans to broadcast it during prime-time hours in America. This is a significant change compared to most trips to Saudi Arabia. Take this upcoming weekend, for example, where the main card for Crown Jewel will begin at noon Eastern.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partners in Saudi have been stupendous \u2026 I couldn\u2019t be more thrilled with the partnership in its current form and what I know is still to come,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

When discussing site fee payments (described as \u201cFinancial Incentive Packages\u201d during the call, or \u201cFIPs\u201d), Shapiro mentioned TKO\u2019s plans to host events in Central Asia and Europe. He also mentioned that many from the company had just returned from a trip to Africa, where they are planning to eventually host a UFC event.<\/p>\n

It was also briefly mentioned that there are talks regarding a potential WWE event in Tokyo, Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image Credit: WWE A series of attacks on Saudi Arabia this fall has drawn considerable concern regarding TKO\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[58,1130],"class_list":["post-69017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran-middle-east","tag-middle-east","tag-middle-east-conflict"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@conflicts\/117564191818198891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/conflicts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}