WrestleMania 43: The Controversial Move to Saudi Arabia

In 2027, WrestleMania 43 will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and everyone has something to say about it. WWE made the official announcement on Friday at a special press event in Las Vegas. However, PWInsider broke the news earlier in the week when they got wind of a press release written in Arabic that was pulled shortly after the Saudi government accidentally released it.

Joe Tessitore moderated the event and was joined by the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Stephanie Vaquer, Logan Paul, Seth Rollins, and Triple H, who touted WrestleMania’s global success over the last several years, and put over Turki Al-Sheikh, whom he called his dear friend, and brought out to the stage as he announced WrestleMania 43 as part of Riyadh Season in 2027.

A couple of WWE stars spoke glowingly of their experience in Saudi Arabia. Undertaker said fans who usually travel to see WrestleMania will be pleasantly surprised by the passion of Saudi wrestling fans and how nice the people are. Bianca Belair said she is impressed with how Saudi Arabia evolves more for women every time she goes there. Triple H said Saudi Arabia is a new hotbed for WWE.

Turki Al-Sheikh commented on WWE’s eight-year partnership with the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority. Turki also praised current WWE President Nick Khan for continuing “the legacy of Vince McMahon,” and said the record-breaking attendance at last year’s WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas influenced the decision to bring WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Sheikh also acknowledged the press release his office accidentally released. He said the press release was published for two seconds before they took it down, and fans went crazy with excitement. Triple H closed out the event, stating, “This doesn’t happen without his excellency, Turki Al-Sheikh and Nick Khan,” and ended by saying WrestleMania 43 will have “a level of stardom and spectacle like you’ve never seen before.”

– Opinion Time

Well, folks, it’s official: WWE will hold its first WrestleMania outside of North America in Saudi Arabia. There are mixed reactions to this announcement. Some like it. Some hate it. Some have concerns. I can’t help but feel that this decision is somewhat unfair to British wrestling fans, as England has been campaigning for what seems like forever to host WrestleMania on its shores.

England is WWE’s second-largest fan base, and their passion for wrestling is well-documented. John Cena got fans even more excited about such a prospect when, at Money in the Bank in 2023, he made a strong pitch for WWE to hold WrestleMania in London, stating, “UK fans have earned the right.” The proclamation led many to believe such a landmark event was on the horizon.

After all, wrestling promotions don’t usually tease something like this unless it’s happening, right?

While WWE did not announce a date for WrestleMania 43, they did officially announce a date for the 2026 Royal Rumble, which will be held on January 31st and previously announced for Saudi Arabia. WON reported that WWE originally wanted to hold off on holding Saudi-helmed WrestleMania until 2028. However, Turki Al-Sheikh had the money to push it through.

WON also reported that holding the event in 2027 will coincide with Saudi Arabia’s 300th anniversary, celebrated annually on February 22, known as Founding Day. The money being thrown around for this event will make it the most money ever spent to put on a wrestling event. A good portion of the astronomical amount of money Turki Al-Sheikh is paying for the show will fund his penchant for having WWE bring in superstars from the past

The Rock is already rumored for the event, and he recently lost a lot of size and muscle, which means he will have under two years to get back into People’s Champion shape. The obvious opponents for Thebe Rock would be either Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes.

Goldberg had his retirement match in July. Perhaps, another Saudi payday might motivate him to work another match. Goldberg’s retirement was self-imposed, so it’s not as if WWE will have to find a creative loophole around a loser-leaves-town stipulation.

Sting said he knows he’ll never wrestle again after announcing his multiyear legends deal with AEW in 2024. What if that deal expires just in time for Turki Al-Sheikh to make an offer too large for Sting to refuse?

Stone Cold Steve Austin is a proud wrestler who wants to put on a good show instead of coasting on his name in a subpar performance. It explains why it took him 19 years to come out of retirement for a match with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38.

Rumors have persisted that another match is on the horizon for the “Texas Rattlesnake.” A little under two years to prepare, and the biggest payday of his illustrious career could convince Austin to lace up the boots come WrestleMania 43.

Can anyone say Steve Austin vs. CM Punk?

John Cena is in the final leg of his retirement tour, with the finish line set for December 13, 2025. Cena spoke candidly on Stephanie McMahon’s podcast about the pain he deals with, stating that his skills have regressed due to how badly his body is beaten up.

While wrestlers always return eventually, pain changes everything. Cena is making bank with a flourishing Hollywood career, which is less painful than the grind of the squared circle, making the 17-time world champion less susceptible to the allure of a big in-ring payday.

The streets say Chris Jericho will finish with AEW at the end of the year and will return to WWE at the 2026 Royal Rumble. I don’t know if Triple H sees Jericho as a big star due to their tumultuous history behind the scenes. Sure, they got along later, but with Triple H handling the book, can Jericho truly trust “The Game?”

For all we know, Jericho will resign with AEW; however, it feels that the time of “Demo God” or “The Learning Tree” in the promotion has run its course. If financially viable for him personally, Jericho might want to hold off on a return until WrestleMania 2027. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and more time away could equal maximum return on the investment of “Y2J.”

Shawn Michaels has repeatedly stated that he wishes he had never come out of retirement for his match at Crown Jewel 2018, where he teamed up with Triple H against Undertaker and Kane. The match was a trainwreck, and many would love to have it burned from their memory.

Micheals is another wrestler who is proud of his work in the ring and will be nearly 62 years old when WrestleMania 43 rolls around. Will the allure of a multi-million dollar payday be too strong for HBK to turn away?

Undertaker, Kane, Ric Flair (Please, no), and any retired/older wrestler with a big name will have an opportunity to score one more big payday. Turki Al-Sheikh is nostalgic for the stars of yesteryear. Reportedly, Turki requested that WWE book Yokozuna and the Ultimate Warrior for the inaugural event in Saudi Arabia, 2018’s Greatest Royal Rumble. The request went unfulfilled on account of both men being dead.

Turki Al-Sheikh’s desire to see stars from the past indicates the lack of big stars WWE has created in nearly two decades. Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are the biggest stars in WWE’s contemporary landscape. Vince McMahon helmed Reigns’ ascension to the top of the card, and for most of Rhodes’ run to the top, which Triple H inherited.

Triple H has not yet developed a bona fide star from start to finish. He’s been WWE’s Chief Creative Officer in an uninterrupted capacity for only two years. There are rumors that Bron Breakker, Jacob Fatu, and Rhea Ripley are his top choices to elevate as main event attractions.

WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia was always going to happen. It was just a question of when. It probably would have happened sooner if not for the pandemic. Now, it’s a reality, and it’s conjuring a lot of bad feelings.

There are also many people who don’t care how their bread is buttered when it comes to WrestleMania offerings, and the majority of those who complain about the setting are going to watch it anyhow.

Still, feelings are understandable. Hopefully, WWE can create new marquee superstars between now and 2027 to avoid an over-reliance on the past and to set the table for the genre moving forward.

John Cena’s Shocking Heel Turn at WWE Elimination Chamber

It happened. The heel turn of all heel turns occurred at WWE’s Elimination Chamber event in Toronto. John Cena, the biggest superstar in modern WWE history, shocked the world when he did the one thing he said he’d never do. Cena led a blindside attack on WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, revealing that he, not Rhodes, had sold his soul to The Rock.

Now, John Cena’s farewell tour is a road to perdition

Following Cena’s victory in the Elimination Chamber match, which punched his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania 41, Rhodes shook his hand as a symbolic commencement of their road to “The Grandest Stage of The All.”

The Rock, accompanied by rapper Travis Scott, came out to get Rhodes’ answer. Would the WWE Champion sell his soul to “The Final Boss?” Rhodes passionately stated that he had already given his soul to the sport and the fans and concluded with an emphatic “Go F@#% Yourself” to the Hollywood megastar.

Cena hugged Rhodes under the guise of admiration until The Rock gave the order with a throat slash, and Cena went from smile to killer as he kicked Rhodes below the belt and pummeled him with his father’s Rolex. The beating ended with Cena and Scott holding Rhodes down as Rock whipped him with an “American Nightmare” style weight belt insultingly etched with the date of his father’s passing.

Execution is everything in entertainment, and John Cena’s heel turn was well-executed from top to bottom. When WWE lowered the chamber for the men’s match, it quietly signaled that the Rock/Rhodes confrontation was the main event. There was no formal announcement; it was just business as usual.

Fans everywhere knew something big was coming once they realized the confrontation would go on last. Few suspected Cena’s turn to the dark side, but many dismissed the idea as soon as they thought it. Everyone assumed Rock/Rhodes would happen in the middle of the show, and saying otherwise a week or two beforehand would have given everyone more time to deduce the outcome. WWE also didn’t give fans much time to think, which made Cena’s heel turn infinitely better.

Cena hammed it up for the crowd when Rhodes dropped his F-bomb. That should have been a hint, but it snuck under the radar since Cena always hams it up. Then came the hug. Cena embraced Rhodes while giving The Rock a diabolical look before he lowered the boom.

The hug and the look were the key ingredients in Cena’s heel turn. Usually, when a heel turn happens, the victim and the audience find out together. It is almost a communal experience. Here, the audience found out first, letting just enough shock and awe set in before Cody was betrayed.

This time around, Rhodes was indeed the last one to know.

John Cena’s turn began at the Royal Rumble’s post-show press conference. Cena was steadfast in his declaration for the elimination chamber match, citing that his involvement in the main event of WrestleMania is what’s best for business.

The embodiment of hustle, loyalty, and respect would never use his clout to get ahead, right? So what if he simply called his shot instead of qualifying like everyone else? Sure, he spewed that infamous corporate rhetoric about business.

It was an off-brand message chalked up to frustration, having almost won the Royal Rumble. Perhaps it was good old-fashioned nostalgia that gave Cena a pass since it’s his farewell tour. What if Rhodes had taken The Rock up on his offer? Where would that have left Cena?

It’s hard to imagine John Cena being anyone’s plan B. Would Rock have two souls instead of one? Or did the Hollywood Heels (patent pending) know Rhodes would never bend the knee? The latter is the most likely scenario due to one mitigating factor.

Cody Rhodes already has everything The Rock offered him. Fame, fortune, cars, movie/television roles, and he’s the face of WWE. On the other hand, The Rock has something he can offer Cena. The record. A seventeenth world championship. Cena doesn’t care how he gets it, and why should he. After all, he tied the record fair and square. So what if he cheats to break it?

Heel turns are a tale as old as time in professional wrestling. They hit differently, however, when it is the biggest star in the business trading in their white hat for a black hat. Cena’s turn conjured instant comparisons to when Hulk Hogan turned heel in 1996, formed the nWo, and thus changed the business forever. Both wrestlers were the heroes of their respective eras, and both turns were extremely shocking.

In 1996, the Internet was still in its infancy. A steady stream of information about the inner workings of wrestling was not readily available, so there was nothing to spoil or even hint at what occurred at Bash at the Beach. Hogan was off TV for three months, which augmented the shock of his turn.

Twenty-nine years later, the Internet is available to everyone, and many fans have a greater understanding of wrestling due to the backstage news cycle of various promotions. As a result, some deduced Cena’s turn once the order of events for the Elimination Chamber was revealed.

A Cody Rhodes/John Cena match had been rumored for a few months as the main event at WrestleMania. Some didn’t believe it. Those who did believe it assumed Cena would pass the torch to Rhodes in a babyface vs. babyface affair similar to WrestleMania VI when Hulk Hogan lost to the Ultimate Warrior.

Good guy against good guy is a hard match to pull off. Not only do you risk splitting the audience, there is no heat. The aforementioned Warrior/Hogan match is a masterclass of two heroes clashing. The same can’t be said for Steve Austin vs. Undertaker at the 1998 SummerSlam. Austin was unquestionably the star of the company, but the Undertaker had too much respect from the audience to jeer him without cause.

WrestleMania 41 now has a main event with white-hot heat. It’s no longer a given that Rhodes beats Cena. In fact, heel Cena is the biggest threat to Rhodes’ title. Babyface Cena beating Rhodes for the world title record is a feel-good story that some would damn with faint praise. Newly minted heel Cena beating Rhodes for the record is something the world would remember, and the same for Rhodes conquering a now soulless Cena.

“How dare you talk to me about chances, John Cena. I have had to earn everything I’ve ever been given in life, and still, they’re taken from me. You, you’re the golden goose, John. Your chances they’re unlimited, you’re untouchable. But you’re not a hero, John. You’re a bully. You’re a horrible person. You take the weaknesses of others, and you turn them into jokes. You do anything for fame, John. Congratulations, you’re the man now, John. Poor, lonely John Cena. This is your last chance, man.” – Bray Wyatt

The Rock Makes Suprise Appearance on SmackDown

The Rock made a surprise appearance on Friday’s SmackDown. Oh, Pat McAfee was there, too, but it was all about “The Great One.”

McAfee opened the show and was interrupted by Austin Theory, who insulted the people and proclaimed that SmackDown was his show. McAfee reminded him that SmackDown is the people’s show, which brought out The Rock.

In a call back to the 3/25/02 episode of Raw, which hosted the inaugural WWE Draft, The Rock had one side of the crowd say “YOU’RE” and the other side yell “AN ASS***” at Theory.

Eventually, a quick brawl ensued where The Rock drilled Theory with a spinebuster and people’s elbow. The segment ended with The Rock coaching McAfee to hit Theory with a people’s elbow of his own.

Ringside Logic stands with the writers and actors of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. No movies being filmed meant The Rock got to play in WWE’s sandbox again.

The crowd pop when The Rock’s music hit was otherworldly. Yes, a surprise appearance from Hollywood’s biggest star will blow out a few speakers. An advertised appearance would have nearly been as loud, if not the same.

Why?

It’s the difference between a wrestler and an attraction. Larger-than-life personalities sell tickets. Every wrestler should aspire to be as over as The Rock and leg slapping won’t get it done.

15 Wrestling Comic Book Covers

Pro Wrestling is often described as a live-action comic book. Both mediums are prime destinations for bombastic storytelling with larger-than-life characters. It’s not a surprise that the two genres often intersect.

Batista and John Cena have earned critical acclaim for their big-screen superhero roles as Drax and Peacemaker, respectively.

Marvel and DC Comics use wrestling as a vehicle to produce the next great issue, with a cover providing a peek of the body slaming goodness within its pages.

Get out your long boxes and search those spin racks. It’s time to look at 15 pro wrestling comic book covers.

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Bret Hart: It Was Time For A Change

Bret Hart is arguably the best storyteller to ever don a pair of wrestling boots. His exquisite technical prowess and pink and black in-ring attire are a hallmark of his legendary career. However, despite Hart’s intense portrayal of an anti-American heel in 1997, it wouldn’t have cut the mustard in 1998.

If the Montreal Screw job had never happened (November 1997) and Hart never went to WCW, WWE’s Attitude Era would have still been the most famous period in modern professional wrestling. The anti-establishment bravado spearheaded by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin made the era a time of reinvention.

Austin was already tailor-made for the highly volatile TV-14 product. Everyone else, however, charged their stripes to match the contemporary look of the times. If Bret Hart had stayed on, he would undoubtedly have to change as well.

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Who Will Dethrone Roman Reigns?

Another WrestleMania is in the books, and Roman Reigns is the unified WWE Universal Champion. The question of who will dethrone “The Tribal Chief” is a hot-button topic. The issue has intensified even more now that Roman holds the WWE Championship and Universal Championship, allowing him to appear on Raw and SmackDown for the foreseeable future. However, Roman won’t hold both belts forever.

Elevation requires separation, and with the brand split staying the course, the company will only go for so long without a champion on each of its flagship shows. Eventually, the titles will be separated, and Reigns will remain the Universal Champion because it is the title that encompasses his historic run. The title itself is only five years old, and while it’s front and center on the championship spectrum, it lacks a legendary reign that Roman can obtain.

What I’m about to say I’ve only uttered to a handful of people, but now it’s time to unleash my bold prediction. Roman Reigns will be Universal Champion until WrestleMania 40. Yep, that’s right, two years from now, eclipsing Pedro Morales on the all-time list as the 5th longest title reign.

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The Ultimate WrestleMania Card

Some of the year’s biggest matches will occur this weekend at WrestleMania 38. It’s a fun time to reminisce on past Mania matches and think about those that never occurred. The Ultimate Show on the WWE Network booked the Ultimate WrestleMania Card.

The rules are you can pick any wrestler from any era who competed at a WrestleMania. Also, you can only use a wrestler once. So, I put my promoter’s cap on and created what I believe would be the Ultimate WrestleMania.

Since WrestleMania has been a two-night event for the last three years, I’m going to treat this card the same. Two nights, six matches each, and headlined by a blockbuster main event.

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The Rock versus All Other Wrestlers in Hollywood

Dwayne Johnson, who am I kidding, The Rock – is one of the biggest movie stars on the planet today. His movies draw bookoo money at the box office and generate more buzz and media attention than most. The Great One’s role as Luke Hobbs in Fast Five reinvigorated the Fast and the Furious franchise by turning it into an action movie phenomena.

The Rock is riding high in tinsel town as the definitive contemporary action star who probably had more charisma coming out of the womb than most people will ever have. The professional wrestling icon has had his ups and downs… cough “Tooth Fairy” cough…. but has finally become the star that people pegged him to be since his days as the Scorpion King.

What about the other goliaths of the squared circle who have graced the silver screen? While The Rock isn’t the first pro wrest…. sorry Mr. McMachon, I mean, sports entertainer to star in feature films, why did the former 8-time WWE champion succeed where his peers failed?

CLICK HERE to read more of this column at the all new Forces of Geek.com

WWE WrestleMania 32 Review

Sorry for the late WrestleMania review. I was a little under the weather this past week. I also needed time to process this event. It wasn’t a bad show by any means, however, it also wasn’t the grand slam event that it could have been. Besides the super-hyped and unexpected return of Shane McMahon, the show had a lackluster build up over the past five weeks. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas was the setting for this year’s lineup of 11 matches, all with the design to break WWE’s all-time attendance record.

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10 Greatest Intercontinental Title Matches Held at Summer Slam

Another SummerSlam is in the books, and overall, it was a good show. One of the matches featured Ryback defeating The Miz and Big Show to retain the Intercontinental title. However, it was a far cry from the classics of yesteryear.

Just like WrestleMania is known for its world title matches, a hallmark of SummerSlam was the stellar Intercontinental Title bouts. They weren’t just great in-ring spectacles, but they often served as a defining moment for a wrestler’s career.

Bret Hart’s impressive back-to-back performances for the coveted title played a prominent role in ascension to the main event scene.

Many long for the days when “the biggest party of the summer” produced unforgettable IC Title matches.

Let’s look at Ten Best Intercontinental Title Matches held at SummerSlam. Continue reading “10 Greatest Intercontinental Title Matches Held at Summer Slam” →