RIYADH: After all the hype, it’s time to get down to the brass tacks. First-class entertainment guaranteed, brain and brawn at its finest delivered like only brand WWE can.
At 8 p.m. Thursday the action begins to open the two-day WWE Live Riyadh presented by Hardee’s at Green Hall Stadium in the Saudi capital.
This event is organized by TIME Entertainment for the third year in a row and, for the first time, under the umbrella of General Entertainment Authority within the framework of developing the entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia.
Prior to the main shows there will be activities at WWE village where fans can buy their favorite T-shirts and items of their WWE superstars.
Dean Ambrose, like fellow WWE superstars Kane and Dolph Ziggler interviewed by Arab News ahead of the show in the Kingdom, couldn’t wait to reconnect with fans and get in the ring Thursday for the WWE World Championship Match against AJ Styles.
“Thank you very much for the opportunity. Looking forward to my third trip and hopefully gain more WWE fans in Saudi Arabia. People have been treating us so exceptionally well, better than can be expected. Fans were all appreciative,” American Ambrose, born Jonathan “Jon” Good, told Arab News in a phone interview from San Jose, California.
“We are ready to bring out the best we can. Couple of days quite fun to be back there again. Very excited to perform in Riyadh. Hopefully we keep growing the fans and keep WWE even better. Being there get you excited to meet your fans. You go back to a place that you know fans are great. At the end of the day you put smile on people’s faces,” said Good who turns 31 on Dec. 7.
To suggestions the show is scripted and that wrestlers don’t really hurt each other, Ambose shares: “Well, first of all, it’s like performance is everything. Where we do the thing that we do is very dangerous thing. Sports entertainment it definitely is.
It’s not like a token hurt.”
“It’s little bit of everything. Drama, unique entertainment, You don’t know what’s gonna happen like a television entertainment show.”
Ziggler in a separate interview has said as much: “WWE is an sport entertainment and it’s in for show. But every single night I get hurt a little bit. I had my nose broken five or six times and had concussions. It’s dangerous what we do as trained professional. It is so dangerous that we ask children please don’t try this at home because I’m a trained professional and I get hurt a little bit every match.”
For Ambrose, a true-blue professional, making the fans happy is paramount. “In reciprocity for the great attitude of the fans, we put on the best show possible,” he says.
“Be ready to experience the best. You can expect us to go completely all out. You ain’t seen nothing yet. Something you don’t get you’ll get next week,” says Ambrose with a 13-year experience who started wrestling at 16 in Las Vegas.
In the other first day matches, Kane takes on Randy Orton in Street Fight, while Dolph Ziggler and The Mix face off in the InterContinental Championship Match.
Featured in the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Fatal Four Way Match
are Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. American Alpha vs. The Usos vs. Breezango. Elsewhere, it will be Jack Swagger vs. Baron Corbin, Kaliston vs. Kur Hawkins and Hype Bros vs. The Ascencion. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper are also seeing action.
From Saudi Arabia, the tour heads to the UK for successive shows beginning Sunday night in Manchester, Newcastle and Aberdeen, before producing SmackDown Live TV in Glasgow, Scotland, for the very first time on Tuesday night. There will be a couple more dates in the UK, before heading to Spain to appear in Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao. The tour will see the superstars appear in live events on 11 consecutive nights, and after the first two nights of the tour in Riyadh, these live events will be in a different city every night.
WWE and NXT currently produce more than 500 live events a year, and up to 100 of those live events take place internationally.
