WWE News Update (5/18): WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia, New Wyatt Family, Tiffany Stratton


Hey everyone, we're going to try to do a consolidated WWE news update every few days here at rajah.com compiled by our team, which will include the some of the latest news but also include rumors and opinion. Feel free to leave feedback in the comment section or drop us a line at news@rajah.com with any corrections, feedback or tips.

  • WWE heads overseas to Saudi Arabia next week after Monday's Raw for the King and Queen of the Ring premium live event. As a result, Tuesday's NXT show was taped (spoilers here) and Friday's Smackdown will take place in Saudi Arabia - presumably taped - and then aired a few hours later.
  • The QR codes and glitches that WWE has been sprinkling on their TV shows looks to be culminating at the King and Queen of the Ring event and as has been widely speculated, WWE will be resurrecting the Wyatt Family storyline with Bo Dallas and Erick Rowan heading up the stable. PWInsider.com earlier reported that Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy will round out the group, though it's worth wondering whether WWE gives the team some major credibility by adding Braun Strowman or Alexa Bliss somewhere down the road.
  • Tiffany Stratton was in the news over the last week for all the wrong reasons. I kinda missed what happened, but I believe she shared a fan-made video that showed her punching Jade Cargill with a voice-over that some people felt was racist. Stratton received backlash, took down the video pretty quick and it was later reported that she wasn't going to face any repercussions from WWE officials. She ended up competing in her Queen of the Ring quarterfinal match in a losing effort.
  • The Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority head Turki Alsheikh spoke with Ariel Helwani earlier this week and revealed that his organization is in discussions with WWE to bring a major premium live event - Royal Rumble or WrestleMania - in 2026 or 2027. Obviously if that happens, it would be ground-breaking as WWE has never held either event outside of North America and in fact, only outside of the United States on a handful of occasions, all in Canada. The truth of the matter is that with Vince McMahon and his ideologies gone, WWE and the bigger companies TKO and Endeavor are all about generating revenue and it's no secret that the Saudi government has the resources to pony up a ton of cash. They already pay a reported $50 million per event for the two PLEs that WWE holds so I can only imagine the cash they would hand over to WWE for a Rumble or 'Mania. The only complication could be logistics due to the time zone difference but with an enormous site fee that would quite literally dwarf any gate total WWE could earn, would they really care?
  • Asuka announced via her YouTube channel that she's going to be taking a break to tend to a linger knee injury. The former multi-time champion has been struggling with that knee for a while and is usually among the top of WWE's lists of matches by performer so a break is well deserved.
  • WWE Raw, AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT all had rough weeks in overnight viewership figures released. With the NBA and NHL playoffs in full swing, it was to be expected. The numbers were especially scary for AEW as Dynamite plunged to lows not seen in almost four years and it seems every week, the show is down in audience and 18-49 demo rating year-over-year.
  • Dave Meltzer reported in his newsletter last week that the tentative main event for WrestleMania 41 is Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock in what would be billed as the Universal title vs. the People's title. I'm sure that is one of the logical top matches on a future show, but a bit out there to say it's penciled in for WrestleMania with almost a year left until the event and so many factors at play, including The Rock's schedule, injuries and a returning Roman Reigns. The Rock vs. Reigns is another candidate of course and there appears to be a long build to that program with the Bloodline storyline continuing with the addition of more members.

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