WWE Crown Jewel is only a few days away and so far four matches have been confirmed for the card. Kevin Owens vs. CM Punk is set to be featured on the SmackDown before Crown Jewel and many fans were surprised to see that the match wasn’t added to the premium live event.
During a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed the situation with the Punk vs. Owens match being put on SmackDown and noted that there’s only been one change to the original card for Crown Jewel.
“There are stories around that some guys refused to go, and nobody refused to go. They think because the Punk match with Owens is on SmackDown that those two guys refused to go, and that is absolutely not true.
“I got the original card. The only change is that the tag team title match was gonna be a six-man with Oba, Penta and Je’Von Evans against Bron Breakker, Austin Theory and Bronson Reed. They decided to make it a tag match.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Oba and Bronson Reed end up interfering in that tag title match to set up the trios match at a point in the future. I’m not saying for sure that’ll happen.
“But that is the only change to the card from the card that was originally made a long time ago. So this was always the deal. Now, if you have read that there’s talent that doesn’t want to go, of course there is, and that’s obviously accurate. I’ve heard from people too, and Sean (Ross) Sapp reported that the people they’ve talked to say they don’t want to go. Of course they don’t.”
WWE will be taping Friday’s episode of SmackDown after Raw tonight, so stay tuned for updates regarding the winner of the CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens match.