After weeks of speculation surrounding the status of the event, WWE Crown Jewel 2026 will still take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 7, though the show has been moved to The Venue as opposed to the Riyadh Seasonal Stadium due to the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. These conflicts have seen missile strikes target the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and the King Fahd International Airport in Damman, resulting in 14 people being killed and more than 320 people suffering serious injuries.Despite these recent attacks leading to the U.S Department of State warning people to not travel to Saudi Arabia, WWE is still set on traveling there, which has naturally caused some concern amongst the roster. According to a new report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, multiple WWE Superstars, including some top-level talent, made it clear to WWE officials that they didn't want to be booked on the show due to the dangers surrounding the country at the moment.Sapp also noted that one talent who is actually booked on the show voiced their concerns about traveling, though it was reiterated to them from WWE officials that safety precautions were of the upmost importance for this trip. These concerns have led to WWE taking a smaller crew than usual, and not requiring talents who aren't booked on the show to travel either.Crown Jewel will be part of a triple-header of Saudi events held either by TKO or in conjunction with TKO, with the other two events being Canelo Alvarez fight against Christian Mbilli which took place on October 31, and the Power Slap 26 event which takes place on November 6. Zuffa Boxing will also be hosting an event on the same day as Crown Jewel, though that event takes place in London, England.
WWE Crown Jewel 2026 will be held in the same venue that hosted the WWE Royal Rumble 2026 Premium Live Event back in January, though there were some discussions on where the company should move the show to in case the Riyadh Seasonal Stadium, a temporary venue built specifically for Crown Jewel, was not safe enough.Fightful Select was told that the move to a different building was done for safety reasons and not because of any issues with ticket sales as some had previously speculated. Sources from Saudi Arabia have claimed that the move to a smaller arena is in large part due to the fact that Riyadh simply doesn't have enough big arenas at this moment, with the sole exception being the Kingdom Arena. However, Al Hilal, one of the football/soccer teams who play in the Saudi Pro League, use the Kingdom Arena as their home venue, and since the Saudi Pro League season is in full swing and has been since August, that venue was a no-go for WWE.At the time of writing, Crown Jewel currently has four matches signed, including the two WWE Crown Jewel Championship matches in the men's and women's divisions. For the men, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns will go one-on-one with Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn, while for the women, WWE Women's Champion Chelsea Green will take on WWE Women's World Champion Liv Morgan. Elsewhere on the card, The Vision will defend the WWE World Tag Team Championships against Penta and Je'Von Evans, while Cody Rhodes will look to settle his score with Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match. It's not yet known if more matches will be added given WWE will be taking a smaller crew than usual over to Riyadh.
