It had been speculated earlier in the year that the WWE would be running two events in Saudi Arabia in 2019. The first event has been rumored for May and now it appears that the second event has a more firm date – November 1st, 2019.

The timing of the two events is not coincidental, as they correspond with the WWE’s two planned European tours this year. According to Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer, these two events are part of a strategic change to the way that the WWE does their international tours. The current plan is to scale back the number of shows that they will do on each tour, but to focus on doing shows in bigger stadiums and arenas.

The rationale behind this is that while total attendance for these tours was up last year, attendance for the bigger shows was down. The WWE plans to do away with some of the smaller events in 3000-5000 seat venues and to drive business towards the larger shows.

It should be noted that the WWE hasn’t yet announced their return to Saudi Arabia. The speculated reason for this is that they are looking to hold off on the announcement for as long as possible due to the inevitable backlash that they will receive.

Credit: Wrestling Observer