Nick Khan Confident WWE Fans Will Travel To Saudi Arabia For WrestleMania 43

Nick Khan believes WWE fans will be willing to travel to Saudi Arabia to attend WrestleMania 43.

On September 12th, WWE announced that WrestleMania 43 will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event is the biggest since the company began it’s partnership with the Kingdom, and will mark the first time WrestleMania is held outside of North America.

The relationship is controversial with many fans due to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record and treatment of women and the LGBT community. This controversy, coupled with WWE’s ever-increasing ticket prices, has left many wondering how many international fans will decide to make the trip to the Kingdom.

Speaking during a panel at Joy Forum 2025, discussed the decision to take The Showcase of the Immortals outside of North America and expressed his confidence that fans will want to travel to be part of the show.

“It was a natural next step for us. I think at WWE, we realized a number of years ago — you can’t simply pipe American product out globally and hope to be a global product. You actually have to have boots on the ground. So if you look at what we’ve done with our Premium Live Events — formerly known as pay-per-views — over the last few years, about half of those now take place outside of the United States.

“We’re in the eighth year of a long-term partnership with Turki Alalshikh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… We’re bringing Royal Rumble here at the end of January [2026]. It’s the first time Royal Rumble, which is our second or third biggest event, will take place outside of the United States or Canada. And WrestleMania 2027, as you just mentioned, will be here in April of that year, first time ever WrestleMania, as you also said, outside of the US or Canada. We’re excited. We think viewership is going to be strong. We think people will come to the Kingdom to see our show, and we’re going to put on a spectacle.”

Nick Khan Explains Why WWE Chose Saudi Arabia For WrestleMania 43

Turning to why Saudi Arabia was chosen to host WrestleMania, Nick Khan explained that WWE’s partnership with the Kingdom made it an easy deal to work out with the General Entertainment Authority’s Chairman, Turki Al-Sheikh.

“So when Turki expressed interest in having it here, we got together for a couple of different meetings, worked out the deal in short order and then had the good fortune of announcing it the day before Canelo vs. Crawford, our first [boxing] fight together in Las Vegas.”

Do you agree with Nick Khan that WWE fans will be open to travelling to Saudi Arabia for WrestleMania 43? Let us know your thoughts below!

H/T to F4WOnline for the above transcription.