Elimination Chamber is official for Saudi Arabia

As it was reported they would, WWE this morning (Jan. 17) announced this year’s Elimination Chamber will happen in Saudi Arabia.

There were rumors the company would change the name of the “premium live event”, presumably for branding purposes — and to avoid the reference to a flashpoint of the controversy surrounding WWE’s business dealings with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the government-ordered murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At least based on the initial announcement, the Elimination Chamber name will remain for next month’s show in Jeddah.

Here’s that announcement:

The General Entertainment Authority, in cooperation with WWE, has announced that the Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event will be held at the world’s largest pillarless superdome in Jeddah, on Saturday, Feb.19, 2022. More details of the event will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Elimination Chamber show complements the commitment of the General Entertainment Authority to provide the most famous international events and entertainment shows. This show was preceded by several previous partnerships with WWE to present international shows in the kingdom, which achieved remarkable local and international success, including the recent WWE Crown Jewel show in Riyadh Season 2021 and WWE Super ShowDown in the previous Riyadh Season in early 2020.

This continues a trend started last year of making the Saudi shows more essential to WWE’s ongoing storylines, and therefore no longer perceived as “glorified house shows”. Matches at the annual Elimination Chamber event typically impact multiple WrestleMania main events.