Following the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, many people both in, and outside of the wrestling community have been calling for WWE to move Crown Jewel to a venue that’s not in Saudi Arabia.
As of right now the company has yet to make any announcements regarding any major changes to the event, but the pressure is still on WWE to pull out of the event.
Dave Meltzer recently talked about the status of Crown Jewel on Wrestling Observer Radio, and he noted that the show is in jeopardy as outside forces are trying to convince Vince McMahon not to go (via Ringside News).
“The Saudi Arabia show is very much in jeopardy as far as what’s going to happen. There has been, there’s only a few people who could get Vince — you know Vince was adamant about doing the show. I mean they’ll pull out if they have to pull out but it was going to take a lot to pull them out. I was told it would take Trump or government officials and there is something in that thing that’s out there.”
“That’s why tickets didn’t go on sale on Friday, it’s not — the decision has not been made but it’s a lot less than it was a week ago when they were pretty gung-ho in doing the show. It’s in jeopardy from outside forces that are pretty much, you know I don’t know the exact dialogue but there is absolutely pressure on [Vince] not to go now.”
This week on Monday Night Raw, WWE announced that Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar will face off in a singles match for the vacant Universal Championship, and DX also hyped up their match against the Brothers of Destruction at Crown Jewel.
It’s also been rumored that John Cena and Daniel Bryan are refusing to go to Saudi Arabia for the event, but Cena was advertised for the WWE World Cup tournament on Raw this week.
