WWE Crown Jewel Moved From Its Riyadh Venue as Middle East Tensions Rise; All Tickets to Be Refunded

WWE's premium live event Crown Jewel is moving from its scheduled venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. The move was announced on Wednesday. The event was set to take place on November 7 in Riyadh.

Riyadh Season, the entertainment festival held in the city across several months and organized by Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, said in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday: 'WWE Crown Jewel has been moved to a new venue.' The statement added that all ticket holders will receive a full refund, and tickets will be re-released to everyone within the next 48 hours.

Crown Jewel was set to take place at Riyadh Season Stadium. It was one of three WWE events being held in Saudi Arabia this season. The company's premium live event calendar kicked off with the Royal Rumble in January — the first traditional Royal Rumble to be held in the country. The country also hosted Night of Champions in June.

In between the events was President Donald Trump's decision to hit Iran with airstrikes, sparking months of unrest in the region. The United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Houthis in Yemen and Iran have all been involved in the conflict since late February, according to the report.

Tensions were heightened earlier this month when the Houthis struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, leaving more than a dozen dead; the attack took place on October 8. The attack quickly put Crown Jewel in the focus of the professional wrestling world, as worries increased that WWE personnel could be put into a dangerous situation.

Those concerns increased as the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia ordered non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks. The embassy said Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions, and that the hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly beyond that immediate area.

The US State Department also updated travel advisories for several Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, to Level 4, and urged Americans not to travel there over fears of Houthi attacks and threats against Americans.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that its coalition shot down three missiles fired by the Houthis toward the Eastern Province. Saudi military spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said in a post on X that air defenses intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia toward the eastern region.

The announcement did not say where the new venue will be. Riyadh Season's statement covered only the full refund for ticket holders and the re-release of tickets within 48 hours.

Even so, WrestleMania 43 — WWE's biggest event of the year — was still set to take place in Saudi Arabia next year, according to the report.