Here’s an interesting thing that wrestling fans noticed on the schedule for ESPN’s main cable TV channel on this Sunday night, February 22:
That’s right, it looks like ESPN is planning to air WWE’s Royal Rumble PLE that originally took place in Saudi Arabia last month. The allotted block of time for the show is three hours long, which means roughly one hour of the show will have to be edited out.
I’m thinking Sami Zayn is such a big loser that they might as well remove him from the broadcast altogether
rather than showing just how badly he flopped in his title match against WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Then again, maybe all they have to do is remove Jey Uso’s ridiculous entrance in the men’s Royal Rumble match in order to fit the time requirement.
Jokes aside, WrestleVotes chimed in with the following tidbit about what’s going on here:
“The decision is part of a broader effort to promote upcoming WWE PLEs and allows ESPN to evaluate viewership data for an over air presentation of the product.”
Which parts of Royal Rumble 2026 will be left out when ESPN airs an edited version of the show on Sunday night? Do you plan to check it out if you missed the show live? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
