In a big change of plans in their PLE schedule, WWE Night of Champions 2023 is being reintroduced into the calendar. Back in March of this year, WWE announced that live from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the first-ever King & Queen of the Ring event will go down. With that announcement, the return of King and Queen of the Ring tournaments was also confirmed.
However, in an alteration of plans, WWE made an announcement on their social media, noting that on May 27 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Night of Champions 2023 will be hosted, instead. The fans of the middle-east country love old-school gimmicks and hence, the event dealing with championships present on the WWE roster will be returning.
WWE Backlash 2023: Brock Lesnar Challenged To A Match At May 3 PLE
There’s no confirmed update on whether the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments or the tournament finals will still be happening at Night of Champions 2023 now that the gimmick of the PLE has changed. The final time these two tourneys went down was at the 2021 WWE Crown Jewel PLE where Xavier Woods defeated Finn Balor to become the new King while Zelina Vega defeated Piper Niven to become the first-ever Queen of the WWE.
With the confirmation of Night of Champions 2023, WWE has also essentially confirmed that their deal with the Saudi Arabia sports authority will also continue despite Endeavor taking over the WWE and causing a WWE-UFC merger. Starting from 2018, the latest upcoming PLE in May will be their eighth event in the country, leaving 12 more to deliver.
That being said, Night of Champions 2023 will take place just three weeks after the Backlash premium live event set for May 6th in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The event, first run in 2007, became an annual tradition in WWE’s pay-per-view schedule from 2007 through 2015 but it was then rebranded as Clash of Champions.
WWE Backlash 2023: Roman Reigns Set To Miss First Post-Wrestlemania 39 PLE?
WWE PLE schedule after Night of Champions 2023 confirmation
At present, WWE’s confirmed PLE/PPV schedule goes as follows,
– WWE Backlash (May 6 from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico)
– WWE Night of Champions 2023 (May 27 from the from the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
– WWE Money in the Bank (July 1 from the O2 Arena in London, England)
– WWE SummerSlam (August 5 from the Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan)
– WWE Wrestlemania 40 (April 6/7 from the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
