Report: Backstage News On Sami Zayn Wrestling In Saudi Arabia

To the surprise of many, Sami Zayn will be in action at WWE's upcoming Night of Champions pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia on May 27 when he defends the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships with Kevin Owens against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa of The Bloodline.

Zayn hasn't wrestled in the Middle Eastern kingdom since 2014 and it emerged back in 2019 that Saudi Arabia had asked WWE not to book Zayn on shows in the country due to his Syrian heritage. 

The request came at a time of broken diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria, with relations having fallen apart in 2011. This led to Syria's membership of the Arab League being revoked and Syrians were banned from travelling to Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, though, the Arab League voted to reinstate Syria's membership and Syrians are once again allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia. 

With the door having opened for Zayn to perform in Saudi Arabia, he reportedly decided he was going to wrestle in the kingdom. Kevin Owens then agreed to work Night of Champions too, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

"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," Meltzer said.

WWE signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia in 2018. The partnership was expanded in 2019 and WWE will hold two large-scale events every year in Saudi Arabia until 2027.