The Greatest Royal Rumble event is set to go down on Friday, April 27th and it will air live on the WWE Network from Saudi Arabia at noon Eastern time. Therefore it looks like a lot of hardcore pro wrestling fans might have to take an early day on Friday if they want to see Brock Lesnar defend his WWE Universal Championship in a solid steel cage against Roman Reigns.
But a lot of fans are wondering why Saudi Arabia is getting this huge match that could potentially include a Universal Title change when WrestleMania just happened and Vince McMahon changed his mind and likely didn’t tell anyone except Roman, Brock, Paul Heyman, and the referee during the match.
“Everybody had already paid their money for [WrestleMania],” Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Live while he brought up how the WWE Network has over 2 million subscribers and there is a big television deal on the horizon. “Why did the title have to change at Mania? It didn’t have to!”
“So now they’ve got this giant show in Saudi Arabia. Do you guys know how much money WWE could potentially make through deals with Saudi Arabia? So that’s the priority right now. Not WrestleMania that you already bought your ticket for.”
WrestleMania 34 was a great show and a stacked card where each match meant something. People can come down on the finish of the main event or how a program was booked but they all ended up providing a solid addition to each performer’s story in the squared circle.
But right now WrestleMania 34 is over and WWE doesn’t dwell on the past which is ironic considering their constant call-back to nostalgia to rope in even more revenue. But money is the name of the game and the Greatest Royal Rumble could be the start of a beautiful and profitable partnership between WWE and many entities in the Middle East.
After all, it takes a lot for Brock Lesnar to do anything let alone getting him to Saudi Arabia so that should further illustrate how much this new partnership means to WWE.
Only time will tell if Saudi Arabia will get to see Roman Reigns finally defeat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship although it could plausibly happen. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that having the titles switch hands in Saudi Arabia might be a nice little perk WWE is throwing in to sweeten the deal for their Saudi Arabian business partners.
If you use any portion of the quotes in this article please credit Wrestling Observer Live with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription
