Dave Meltzer Comments On WWE Night Of Champions Going Forward In Saudi Arabia

War between Iran and Israel has put much of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, in the crossfire, just as WWE is traveling to the Arabian Peninsula for WWE Night of Champions. Things seemed to calm down after a precarious ceasefire was reached earlier this week, but both Israel and Iran have broken said ceasefire in the days that followed. On "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer said that, as it stands, plans are not changing.

"Everyone's there...The show is on. We thought the war was over. That lasted a couple hours," Meltzer said. "It's still on and I don't know that it'll ever end...The war is still on, but it's not on in Saudi Arabia, and I don't think there'll be any problems."

Meltzer compared the situation to WrestleMania VII. Originally planned for the LA Memorial Coliseum, the show was moved to an indoor arena, citing safety concerns over Sgt. Slaughter's anti-American/pro-Iraq character. The real reason was a lack of ticket sales.

"As far as the danger, it's still far higher than when they had to move that WrestleMania indoors because of the extreme danger of terrorists...but of course that's not the reason they moved it indoors," Meltzer said, saying that a third party would have to ban travel to Saudi Arabia to stop the show. "They're already over there...The show's on, unless there's something horrible that happens in the next couple of days."

WWE had sent preliminary event staff to the area earlier this week, but the conflict caused the employees to be stranded in Qatar, not long after Iran had completed airstrikes on US targets in the area. The stranded staff have since made it to Saudi Arabia.