What will be first WWE PLE of 2026? Date, location & venue

WWE concluded 2025 with the Survivor Series PLE.

After a year that included the transition of Monday Night Raw from cable TV to Netflix, as well as the new home for WWE PLEs on ESPN. The promotion also introduced two new PLEs, namely, Wrestlepalooza and Clash in Paris.

With the conclusion of Survivor Series: WarGames, which emanated on November 29, 2025, at Petco Park in San Diego, California, the Stamford-based promotion is now looking ahead to 2026.

The upcoming year will see WWE explore new territories, achieve new landmarks, and continue expanding its global reach with major events and innovative fan experiences. So what’s the road ahead in 2026, and which is the first PLE of the upcoming year?

Royal Rumble PLE is the first WWE PLE of 2026

The 39th edition of Royal Rumble, also promoted as Royal Rumble: Riyadh, will be the first PLE of 2026, kicking off another year for the promotion on the road to WrestleMania 42.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, January 31, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of Riyadh Season, and will feature talent from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. Early signs point to the PLE being held at the Kingdom Arena, but nothing official has been announced yet.

It marks the first traditional Royal Rumble ever held outside North America, the 14th WWE event hosted in Saudi Arabia under the company’s decade-long partnership supporting Saudi Vision 2030.

Additionally, it will be the second event in the country to include a Royal Rumble match following the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018, and the first of WWE’s “Big Five” events to be staged there.

As usual, the winners of the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches will earn the right to choose which championship they want to challenge for at WrestleMania 42.

It will be the first PLE in the country since the 2025 edition of Night of Champions, while the next PLE in the country, the 43rd edition of WrestleMania 2027, will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It will mark the first time WrestleMania will cross the Atlantic Ocean and only the third time it’s being held outside the United States, with the previous two being WrestleMania 6 in 1990 and WrestleMania 18 in 2002, both hosted in Toronto.

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