Solo Sikoa and Roman Reigns will challenge Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the WWE tag team titles at the 2023 Night of Champions PLE, as seen on Friday’s WWE SmackDown.
This will be Zayn’s first match in Saudi Arabia since WWE signed a multi-year deal with the country in 2018. Due to his Syrian heritage, the Kingdom requested that Zayn not appear on WWE shows from the country at the time. Diplomatic relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia deteriorated in 2011 as a result of the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war.
Syria and Saudi Arabia agreed earlier this month to resume diplomatic missions, allowing Zayn to wrestle in the country.
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com stated the following:
“Kevin and Sami are wrestling Roman and Solo Sikoa and that’s going to be one of the two main events for the Saudi show on the 27th. And what basically happened there was, I guess, Saudi Arabia has opened up to where Syrians can come in, so, Sami can come in and decided that he would go and when Sami decided he would go, Kevin decided that if Sami is going to go he’ll go too.”
“When the thing started, women weren’t allowed to go. It’s not just WWE but it’s with other products as well. As more western products have gone to Saudi Arabia, they have allowed them to be what they are and WWE being no different.”
