WWE is reportedly planning on holding the final of its rumored Queen of the Ring tournament in Saudi Arabia.
WWE has been restricted to performing in an empty building for almost 18 months up until very recently. It has a lot of catching up to do, hence why next month's SummerSlam will be in a stadium and the roster will be heading to the UK the month after that. Next up after that will potentially be a long overdue trip to Saudi Arabia.
Queen of the Ring
Another report that emerged around the same time as the Saudi rumors is the potential debut of a Queen of the Ring tournament. What most fans wouldn't have expected is for those plans to overlap in some way, but apparently that could well be the case. Andrew Zarian tweeted that the current plan is for the final of the tournament to take place in Saudi Arabia.
It wasn't until very recently that women were allowed to wrestle in Saudi Arabia at all, hence why this news is such a big deal should the plan go ahead. When WWE first started holding its biannual shows in the country, women weren't allowed to appear on the card at all. The company reportedly upset Saudi officials just by showing female wrestlers on the big screen during a break between matches.
Breaking Down Barriers In Saudi Arabia
Renee Young became the first female employee to be a part of the show, calling the action from ringside. In 2019, Lacey Evans and Natalya competed in the first-ever women's match in Saudi Arabia, and that was followed by Bayley versus Naomi in 2020. The first was a non-title match while the latter was for the SmackDown Women's Championship.
While both of those matches were huge in a historical sense, neither was massively promoted and weren't flaunted as one of the show's headline acts. The final of the Queen of the Ring, on the other hand, very much would be. The tournament will likely take place during episodes of Raw and SmackDown, and perhaps even in NXT, with the final match going down in Saudi Arabia. The date currently penciled in for WWE's next Saudi visit is October 21, 2021.