Santos Escobar WWE Abscense & Return Plans Update
As noted before, Santos Escobar has been absent from WWE since this past July. Escobar made a surprise return appearance to Lucha Libre AAA earlier this month at their AAA TV premiere show on FOX Latin America.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated Escobar has not traveled to Saudi Arabia and will not be making an appearance at this Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2026 event.
Johnson reported that Escobar will be working this weekend’s NXT house show events in Tennessee and Alabama instead. Escobar reportedly will be replacing Grayson Waller who had been originally scheduled to work at these shows.
Johnson also reported that it is currently not known if Waller’s removal from this weekend’s NXT shows means that he will be traveling to Saudi Arabia for Royal Rumble weekend in Riyadh.
Street Profits Advertised for NXT House Show Events This Weekend
As noted before, The Street Profits’ Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford are currently not expected to be making a return at this weekend’s WWE SmackDown and Royal Rumble 2026 shows in Saudi Arabia. The Street Profits are currently expected to be working at WWE’s NXT house show events in the United States instead.
Lucha Libre AAA talent El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. recently confirmed on Instagram that The Street Profits are currently advertised to be working at this weekend’s NXT house shows on January 29-30 in Nashville, Tennessee and January 31 in Birmingham, Alabama.
TKO Group Reportedly “Very Good At Instilling Fear” with UFC & WWE Revenue
The Guardian’s Thomas Hauser reported that TKO Group, parent company of UFC and WWE, has been using tactics described as them being “great at installing fear” with UFC and WWE revenues as a way to get whatever they want for Zuffa Boxing and for their deals with state and local governments
In regards to TKO’s new Zuffa Boxing company and their attempts at trying to get the passage of controversial amendments to the Ali Act, Hauser reported that several notable arenas such as Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles have shown their support for the new amendments. Various officials with state athletic commissions reportedly have been in favor of the new amendments due to reasons related to the revenues TKO generates from their UFC and WWE events.
One state regulator spoken to reportedly stated “TKO and Zuffa play hardball. And they generate so much revenue from WWE and UFC that no one wants to cross them.”
Another official spoken to reportedly stated that “They’re very good at instilling fear.”
Hauser reported that TKO is currently believed to be getting $100 million per year for 12 boxing cards for their new Zuffa Boxing entity. This reportedly is a wide gap compared to the $1.1 billion UFC currently gets per year from their 40-plus numbered UFC events and Fight Night cards from their new seven year domestic rights deal.
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