WWE President Nick Khan talked about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia for the first time, said the company will never adjust plans based on social media criticism, and said the decision to use The Rock at WrestleMania two years ago was never changed from the original plan, in a conversation with Sports Business Journal recorded April 15 at the CAA World Congress of Sports in Los Angeles.
WrestleMania Going to Saudi Arabia
Khan said a Saudi WrestleMania is coming, making it the first time the event will be held outside the United States or Canada. “We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi, first time ever WrestleMania will be outside of the United States or Canada, and we’ve had a big fruitful partnership with them.”
He said WWE’s international revenue has grown substantially under the current strategy. “We realized years ago we can’t simply pipe out American content internationally. You got to be boots on the ground, and if you look at our revenue from international now, it’s substantially greater than it was five and a half years ago.”
On pushback from fans: “I’ve never read X or Twitter as it relates to our business. That is a vocal minority. We don’t adjust our business based on complaint, we adjust our business based on ratings, revenue, and relevancy.”
The Rock at WrestleMania Was Never Changed
Asked about fan backlash over WWE’s handling of the Cody Rhodes and Rock situation leading into WrestleMania in Philadelphia, Khan said the plan never changed. “The plan was always how it ended up in Philly two years ago. Sometimes it’s a predetermined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off, you want to let things bake, and then boom, it ends up the way we wanted it to end up. It never changed. That was just online rumors and gossip that we were changing.”
WWE Will Never Respond to Social Media Criticism
Khan made clear that social media complaints will not drive WWE’s creative or business decisions. “We will never respond to social media criticism. Again, if ratings are down, if revenue is down, if relevancy is down, it’s up to us.”
Accelerating the Next Generation
Khan described a strategy session he held with Triple H, WWE head of communications Chris LeGentile, and NXT head Shawn Michaels over a year ago that resulted in a deliberate push to develop younger talent faster. “We said, hey, look, we have John Cena on his retirement tour, Rock came back, our other big stars, CM Punk is 46, we have a number of men who are 40 or older performing at a high level. We got to accelerate the next generation of talent.”
Shawn Michaels’ answer was direct. “We need to take them on the road so they get the crowd response of a live crowd. If you’re getting cheered, great. If you’re getting booed, great. If there’s no response, terrible. You need that live crowd to figure that out.”
Khan cited Oba Femi, who opened WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar, as the result of that investment. “That match was probably the most talked-about match on Sunday, and that guy’s only been on main roster for six months.”
Khan as WrestleMania Usher
Khan, who grew up in Las Vegas, said he attended WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace as a college student working as a paid usher while waiting tables and attending UNLV. “I was a terrible usher. Someone would come up with a hard copy ticket and it would say Section C, Row L, and I’d be like, ‘It’s right this way, here’s your seat,’ and they’d be like, ‘This isn’t Section C.’ So I’d just walk away.”
Source: SBJ On Stage (Sports Business Journal), recorded April 15, 2026. h/t WrestlingNews.co for transcription.
