Report: WWE Creative Was Told John Cena Would Not Be At Crown Jewel; Event In Jeopardy

An update on WWE Crown Jewel.

On Monday, Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports reported that John Cena and Daniel Bryan were “refusing” to go to Saudi Arabia for the Crown Jewel event on Nov. 2. On Monday night, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that “creative was told that John Cena was not going to be at [Crown Jewel] and that he needed to be replaced in the tournament.”

POST Wrestling’s John Pollock also reported that creative was told Cena would not be at Crown Jewel and that they had a replacement in mind. However, Pollock noted, “if they thought 100 percent he was off, something would have been done tonight”

Cena was still advertised for the WWE World Cup during Monday Night Raw and is still advertised for the event on WWE’s website.

Meltzer nor Pollock had an update on Daniel Bryan’s refusal to go.

Meltzer also reports that “the show is very much in jeopardy.” Meltzer reports that no decision has been made as of yet, but that “it’s a lot less [certain they go] than it was a week go.” As previously reported, tickets were scheduled to go on-sale for the event last Friday, but did not. 

WWE’s only comment on the matter thus far is that they are “currently monitoring the situation.” Meltzer had reported that it would take pressure from President Donald Trump or US government officials for WWE to pull out of the event.

The Saudi Arabia government has been accused of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia claims that Khashoggi died in a fistfight turned ugly. Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims was Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder that involved at least three separate teams of Saudi intelligence agents, including a military general.

Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with the family of Khashoggi on Tuesday.