WWE is returning to Saudi Arabia, with Crown Jewel set to take place in Riyadh on November 7.
The premium live event will be held as part of Riyadh Season, marking its return to the kingdom after last year's event took place in Perth, Australia.
Crown Jewel pits champion against champion in both the men’s and women’s divisions. Last year's event had Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Stephanie Vaquer triumph to become Crown Jewel Champions, with each receiving a title made up of 50 carats of diamonds.
First staged in 2018, the Crown Jewel has been held in Riyadh every year since, until WWE took the event overseas to Australia for the first time last year.
Its return comes as Saudi Arabia takes an increasingly prominent role on the WWE calendar. The kingdom has already hosted two major WWE events this year, including the Royal Rumble on January 31 – the first time it's been held outside North America.
Roman Reigns won the men's Royal Rumble match, while Liv Morgan emerged victorious in the women's contest, earning them championship opportunities at WrestleMania 42. Night of Champions then returned to Riyadh's Kingdom Arena in June.
However, an even bigger milestone is still on the horizon, with Saudi Arabia set to host WrestleMania 43 – WWE's biggest annual event – in Riyadh next year. It will mark the first time in WrestleMania's four-decade history that the event has taken place outside North America.
WWE's relationship with the kingdom dates back to 2018, when it entered into a 10-year strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority.
Since then, the country has hosted a growing number of major WWE shows, including Crown Jewel, Night of Champions, Super ShowDown, King and Queen of the Ring and the Greatest Royal Rumble.
WrestleMania, however, represents a different scale altogether.
First held in 1985, it is WWE's annual flagship event, and has always been staged in the US or Canada. The spectacle has also grown into a week-long programme of events that includes SmackDown, Raw, NXT and fan activities.
When WrestleMania 43 was announced last year, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE's chief content officer, said the company was looking forward to taking the event to “new heights” in Riyadh.
The announcement came several years after Levesque spoke to The National about WWE's ambitions to take more of its major events around the world.
“That’s the one thing about WWE. There is not a place on this planet, and I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to go to most, if not all of them, that doesn’t know WWE, that WWE Superstars don’t go there and have fans all over, and giving us this type of reaction. That is amazing,” he said in 2022.
