Wrestling history as Jeddah gets ready for royal rumble

World Wrestling Entertainment stars, from left, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Titus O’Neil and Roman Reigns. (AN photo by Huda Bashatah)
Updated 28 April 2018
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Wrestling history as Jeddah gets ready for royal rumble

  • Sell-out crowd will witness history in Jeddah as WWE's biggest stars come to town
  • Roman Reigns said that his previous Wrestlemania bout with Brock Lesnar “took every ounce of effort he had in the ring.” 

 JEDDAH: A sell-out crowd will witness history when the Saudi General Sports Authority and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) stage the Greatest Royal Rumble Special at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah. 

WWE stars are as excited as fans about the event on Friday, a first for the Kingdom. American wrestler Seth Rollins, the WWE intercontinental champion, told Arab News on Thursday that the Royal Rumble would be his first title defense. 

“You have three top-tier competitors aside from myself — the Miz, Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. Any one of them would make a great intercontinental champion, so I have to step up my game,” Rollins said.

Roman Reigns, a former American football player, said that his previous Wrestlemania bout with Brock Lesnar “took every ounce of effort he had in the ring.” 

Universal champion

Discussing his scheduled rematch with the universal champion, he said: “At the end of the day I fell short. This is a good example that at any time you have to be ready to pick yourself up.” 

Finn Balor said that wrestling contests brought out his alter ego. 

“When I am Finn Balor, I am relaxed and very chill, but when I enter the ring as the demon, I find the darker side to my personality.” 

The Greatest Royal Rumble will stream live on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view outside the Middle East. 

The event will be broadcast live in the Middle East on MBC Action, KSA Sports 1, Abu Dhabi Sports 1 and Abu Dhabi Sports 6, as well as stream live on Dawri Plus. 

The Friday card includes the first 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble match.


Tunisian filmmaker wins $1 million AI Film Award

Updated 11 January 2026
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Tunisian filmmaker wins $1 million AI Film Award

DUBAI: The $1 million AI Film Award was given to Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi for his film “Lily” during the fourth edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai.

The prize was awarded by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

The prize was awarded by Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. (Supplied)

The award, organized by the summit in partnership with Google Gemini, was presented as part of the gathering that focuses on the content creation economy. The event, that ran from Jan. 9–11, brought together more than 15,000 content creators and influencers, alongside over 580 speakers and 150 CEOs under the theme “Content for Good.”

The AI Film Award received 3,500 film submissions. Entries underwent technical evaluation with Google Gemini to ensure at least 70 percent of the production used generative AI tools.

Following jury selection and public voting, “Lily” emerged as the winner from a final group of five nominees, which included “Portrait No. 72,” “Cats Like Warmth,” “HEAL,” and “The Translator.”