WWE Announces Second Network Special From Saudi Arabia Will Be on Nov. 2

A Triple Threat for the Universal Championsip featuring Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar will headline the show.

WWE is returning to Saudi Arabia on Nov. 2, the company announced Monday night. 

The show, the second in WWE’s 10-year agreement with the Saudi government, will be called Crown Jewel and will be streamed live on the WWE Network. The first match announced is a Triple Threat for the Universal Championship featuring Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar’s paycheck for the match is reportedly expected to far exceed $1 million. There will also be “the first-ever WWE World Cup tournament to determine the best in the world.”

WWE’s first Network special from Saudi Arabia was the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27 in the coastal city of Jeddah. Crown Jewel will take place in the capital of Riyadh, also the country’s largest city, at the 67,000-seat King Fahd International Stadium. Women were allowed into the stadium for the first time last September. 

The Saudi Arabia agreement has been a tremendous revenue source for WWE (the Greatest Royal Rumble reportedly made the company about $45 million) but also a source of intense criticism. The shows are part of Saudi Arabia’s PR blitz called “Vision 2030” that aims to present the oppressive monarchy as modern and progressive.

In the middle of the Greatest Royal Rumble, viewers watching on WWE Network were shown a two-minute video declaring “It’s the dawning of a new age in Saudi Arabia.” Meanwhile, as WWE begins to promote Crown Jewel, Saudi Arabia plans to behead a female human rights activist sentenced to death for protesting against the government. This weekend, two children were killed in a Saudi-led bombing in Yemen.