Besides one match in 2014, Sami Zayn has not appeared in any capacity at a WWE show in Saudi Arabia. So it turned heads when WWE announced that he and Kevin Owens will defend the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa at Night of Champions.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Zayn and Owens, who also has one prior appearance at a Saudi show, will appear at Night of Champions since the Arab League voted to reinstate Syria’s membership.
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.
On Nov. 16, 2011, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prevented Syrians from traveling to the country and severed diplomatic relations due to the Arab Spring movement and the Syrian civil war. Consequently, Zayn, of Syrian heritage, was requested by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia not to appear on WWE shows in the country, despite WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia having begun their contractual relationship in 2018.
Allowing Zayn into Saudi Arabia probably means that this match configuration won’t change unless something happens over the next two weeks of WWE programming before Night of Champions.
Now, Zayn will return for the first time in nearly a decade to defend the tag titles in one of the show’s top matches. Seth Rollins and AJ Styles will also compete for the World Heavyweight Championship to headline WWE’s next premium live event on May 27.