The entire Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is under a level 3 advisory from the U.S. State Department (reconsider travel), and its southern border under a level 4 advisory (do not travel). Per the advisory itself, that’s specifically “due to risk of drone and missile targeting of American interests by Iran and the Iranian-supported Houthis,” which adds to the existing warnings of “armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans, and local laws regarding social media activity.”
But as regular readers of pro wrestling
news on the internet, you know that. Because the topic has come up repeatedly with WWE still promoting their Crown Jewel premium live event in Riyadh next month despite multiple Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital’s airport, some of which have resulted in fatalities.
It probably won’t deter WWE, since the TKO-owned company is said to be using a private security contractor to make the call on whether or not it’s safe to run its show in Riyadh on Nov. 7. But today (Oct. 14), chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) Turki Al-Sheikh announced that the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament scheduled for next week is being moved to December because of “organizational and logistical challenges”.
Like Crown Jewel and Oct. 31’s Canelo Alvarez title fight (which is still set to happen in the Saudi capital as of this writing), Six Kings Slam was one of the marquee events of the KSA’s annual Riyadh Season celebration. It boasts some of the richest prizes in tennis. All six superstars competing, which include names like Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, get more than a million dollars for playing the tournament. The winner getting up to $6 million — and a solid gold racket valued at more than $500K.
So cancelling it to a future date the GEA can’t know will be safer clear of the same “organizational and logistical challenges” seems like a pretty big deal. It’s almost certainly not the image the Saudis, or a major player in the sports world like Al-Sheikh, want to be presenting during what was supposed to be a showcase of the Kingdom and the billions its spent using sports to rehabilitate its global reputation.
Will it influence WWE at all?
