TKO executive chair and CEO Ari Emanuel said Thursday that WWE Crown Jewel is still set for November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and that TKO has a team monitoring the situation daily and looking at where the show could move if needed.
Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Emanuel whether the show would go on, noting that the State Department is warning Americans that U.S. businesses could be targets.
“Right now, everything’s still set,” Emanuel said. “This weekend coming up in Abu Dhabi, we have a UFC fight. We have in the middle of November a Frieze art show. So far, so good. Nothing’s been canceled.”
Baier then asked whether Emanuel is getting briefings from the government and whether there is a scenario where TKO pulls the show.
“Yeah, we have a whole team kind of working on this, and kind of when—and if that doesn’t happen, where we can move it,” Emanuel said. “It’s a daily monitoring.”
Crown Jewel is set for November 7 at Riyadh Season Stadium. As of this writing, WWE has not announced any change to the event. The UFC fight Emanuel mentioned is UFC 333, set for Saturday, October 24, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, headlined by Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev.
The U.S. State Department told Americans in the Middle East on Monday to exercise heightened vigilance, citing Houthi attacks on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia. UFC CEO Dana White said last weekend that the UFC’s December 5 event in Riyadh is also still on. TKO owns both WWE and the UFC.
WWE is also scheduled to hold WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh in April 2027.
