Source: WWE

Throughout the past year, WWE has made a concerted effort to be appealing for an international audience. Last year, Jinder Mahal was WWE Champion as a way to gain support in India and the Asian continent. And this past November, Cesaro and Sheamus won the Raw Tag Team Championship while AJ Styles won the WWE Championship in Manchester, England.

It may have been unheard of to change titleholders in a place other than the United States or Canada years ago, it’s become more accepted to give worldwide audiences memorable moments like that. Now, it appears that WWE will bring one of its most prestigious events to the Middle East.

Dubbed the “Greatest Royal Rumble,” WWE is set to have a Royal Rumble style event consisting of 50 WWE Superstars that will take place at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. For this April 27 event, WWE reports “John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, The New Day, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and Shinsuke Nakamura” among the participants.

This, along with a rumored October pay-per-view taking place in Melbourne, Australia, shows that WWE seems to be planning occasional big-time events around the world.

While having 50 people participate is big and will no doubt showcase just about everyone in the company, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. WWE tested out a 40-person Royal Rumble in 2011 that many felt was watered down so they went back to the traditional 30-person version.

It’s unknown whether this will be shown on WWE Network but considering the time zones won’t fit as well for a U.S. audience, it may not be on the network and will just be for the benefit of the live crowd and the people in that country.

[WWE/Photo: WWE]

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

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