TKO CFO Says WrestleMania 43 Will Air in U.S. Prime Time

TKO Group Holdings chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, Nov. 4, that WrestleMania 43 will air in U.S. prime time even though it takes place in Saudi Arabia. WWE has not announced a date or a start time.

Fightful and 411Mania both transcribed his answer on Nov. 4, and POST Wrestling picked up the prime-time point on Nov. 5.

What he said

On money, Schleimer said: "There are no KPIs in the agreement on visitation. Our partners in Saudi do retain the box office." KPIs are performance targets, so the point is that TKO's fee does not depend on how many people attend or where they come from. He added: "We get paid. We've received half our fee already."

On television, he said: "this is an event that was legislated in our deal with ESPN that will be US prime for a WrestleMania PLE." PLE is WWE's term for a premium live event. On the start time, he said: "It may start just a bit earlier than some PLEs, but no issue on the partnership side."

Why the time matters

Crown Jewel's main card began at noon ET on Saturday, Nov. 7, which is evening in Riyadh. A U.S. prime-time WrestleMania would flip that. Riyadh is 7 hours ahead of New York in April, so a U.S. evening start would land after midnight in Saudi Arabia. That is our arithmetic, not a WWE statement.

TKO President Mark Shapiro said on the same call that the risk to the show is minimal. See our story on his comments.

What is not known

• WWE has not announced the date, the start time or the venue. 411Mania says the dates have not been announced beyond the month of April.
• Schleimer did not say how many hours "a bit earlier" means.
• We have not seen a statement from the Saudi side on the broadcast plan.

What to watch

A WWE announcement of the date and start time. That will show how early the show begins in Riyadh.

Sources

• Fightful, "TKO CFO Gives More Insight Into WrestleMania 43 Deal With Saudi Arabia", Nov. 4, 2026, 6:04 PM (transcript of Schleimer's answer). https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/tko-cfo-gives-more-insight-into-wrestlemania-43-deal-with-saudi-arabia/
• 411Mania, "TKO CFO Gives Details On Deal To Host WrestleMania 43 In Saudi Arabia", Nov. 4, 2026 (same remarks, and the note that dates are not announced beyond April). https://411mania.com/wrestling/tko-cfo-details-deal-wrestlemania-43-saudi-arabia/
• POST Wrestling (Jack Wannan), "TKO remains optimistic on Saudi Arabia partnership despite conflict in Middle East", Nov. 5, 2026 (the prime-time point and the noon ET Crown Jewel start). https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/11/05/tko-remains-optimistic-on-saudi-arabia-partnership-despite-conflict-in-middle-east/
• TKO Group Holdings, third-quarter 2026 earnings call, Nov. 4, 2026, the webcast linked by Fightful and 411Mania. We did not listen to it. https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/121866477
• WrestlingNews.com, "TKO's Shapiro Says WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia Is Not at Risk", Nov. 5, 2026. https://wrestlingnews.com/story/shapiro-says-wrestlemania-43-risk-minimal/
• WrestlingNews.com staff reporting: compared the two transcriptions of Schleimer's answer and POST Wrestling's report, and looked for a WWE date announcement. We found none. We did not contact TKO or WWE.

How we credit sources: Editorial standards.