WWE Two-Night Montreal Stop Could Alter Royal Rumble Surprises

WWE will stage Friday Night SmackDown and Saturday Nights Main Event at Montreal’s Bell Centre on January 23 and 24, 2026, the company announced, scheduling the two-night stop just one week before the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 31. Two-day combo ticket packages for the Montreal shows go on sale Friday, November 7, with an exclusive presale beginning November 5 using the code WWETIX, WWE said. Saturday Nights Main Event will air live in the United States on Peacock.

The timing has prompted a shift in how WWE may handle one of the Royal Rumble’s most closely guarded traditions. Wrestling journalist Bryan Alvarez said the logistics of staging the Rumble in Saudi Arabia make it difficult to conceal surprise entrants, and that the company is considering debuting any planned surprise appearances on the Montreal SmackDown and Saturday Nights Main Event a week before the Rumble. Alvarez said, "there probably aren't going to be Royal Rumble surprises," explaining that international travel complicates efforts to keep unannounced arrivals secret because it is hard to hide people on flights.

Royal Rumble matches have long featured unexpected returns and surprise debuts...