WWE has a backup location for Crown Jewel 2026 but does not plan to acknowledge it publicly, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said the company fears that admitting to an alternative would be taken as a sign it is backing down and would upset the Saudi government, particularly Turki Alalshikh.
Bryan Alvarez previously said that a U.S. city was under consideration as an alternative site. PWInsider, on the other hand, reported that WWE had not begun talks to move the event. Taken together, the two accounts show that WWE has a fallback option but has not opened negotiations to use it.
Concern about upsetting Alalshikh grew after a post he made Sunday in the wake of the attacks on Riyadh’s airport. In it, he said Canelo Alvarez would go ahead with his fight against Christian Mbilli in Saudi Arabia, and he signed off with one line.
“Hard times reveal true friends.”
Meltzer said earlier that people within WWE took the post as a message aimed at the company as well.
Alalshikh is directly involved in organizing Crown Jewel. The General Entertainment Authority, which he chairs, originally announced the event in partnership with WWE.
Alalshikh himself, however, announced on Wednesday that the Six Kings Slam, a tennis tournament that is also part of Riyadh Season, had been postponed. The tournament, originally scheduled for Oct. 21 to 24, has been moved to Dec. 27 to 30 because of organizational and logistical issues.
Meanwhile, Webook, the official ticketing platform, continues to sell tickets for Crown Jewel, which is listed for Nov. 7 at Riyadh Season Stadium at KAFD.
WWE, in other words, has not changed its commercial plans for the show in Saudi Arabia. Crown Jewel remains advertised to begin at noon ET and stream on the ESPN app.