WWE still hasn’t announced the dates for WrestleMania 2027, and there’s now a possible explanation for why the company is keeping everyone waiting. It turns out the delay might have less to do with Saudi Arabia and more to do with keeping AEW President Tony Khan from making his own plans.
WrestleMania 2027 is set to take place in Saudi Arabia, but WWE passed up a major opportunity to reveal the dates during Crown Jewel on November 7. That raised questions about why the company wouldn’t announce its biggest event of the year while already holding a premium live event in the same country.
During the November 8 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez brought up the missing announcement and questioned why WWE was still keeping the dates a secret. Dave Meltzer suggested there could be a strategic reason behind the decision, pointing to the possibility of AEW scheduling a competing event.
“It’s the same reason why we didn’t have a Royal Rumble date until a couple days ago. It’s all political jockeying. You want to not confirm it until. Especially now, because it’s like, they don’t have to sell tickets. So it’s like, what’s the point in confirming it months ahead? Normally you would give the date so you could sell tickets and people can make arrangements to go and all that.”
Meltzer then brought Tony Khan into the discussion, suggesting WWE might be deliberately withholding the dates to give AEW less time to organize a head-to-head event.
“So it’s just a question of, you know, they don’t want it out and keep people guessing because obviously everyone expects Tony Khan to do a, you know, a competitive show head to head, and they want to give him as little. I mean, they’re going to have to announce it a couple months ahead, but they don’t. Maybe they don’t want to announce it six months ahead. Who knows?”
That’s where things get interesting. WWE would normally want WrestleMania dates out as early as possible so people could purchase tickets and make travel arrangements. But with the 2027 event being held in Saudi Arabia, Meltzer believes the company doesn’t have the same pressure to announce everything months ahead of time.
Alvarez questioned whether WWE was assuming that international visitors wouldn’t be traveling to Saudi Arabia for WrestleMania. Meltzer acknowledged that circumstances could change but argued that there probably wouldn’t be a massive rush to book flights even if the dates were announced immediately. He also floated April 10 and 11 as possible dates for the event, although he made it clear that was only his prediction.
“If they announced. Let’s say they announced April 10th and 11th, which is probably when it’s going to be. How many people do you think in the United States, Canada, Mexico, even Europe are going to be Russian tomorrow to set up their plane flights to go to Saudi Arabia April 10th and 11th. The number isn’t going to be large. So there’s no point in announcing it right now.”
For now, WWE hasn’t confirmed when WrestleMania 2027 will take place, and there’s no confirmation that keeping AEW guessing is actually part of the company’s strategy. That’s Meltzer’s explanation for the delay, not a confirmed directive from WWE.
Still, if WWE is intentionally holding back the dates to prevent Tony Khan from planning a competing show, it would explain why the company let Crown Jewel come and go without making the announcement. With WrestleMania heading to Saudi Arabia, WWE may simply feel it has the luxury of keeping its biggest rival guessing a little longer.
Do you think WWE is deliberately holding off on announcing the WrestleMania 2027 dates to keep AEW from planning a competing event, or is there another reason behind the delay? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
