with Escalation of conflicts in the Middle East to the point where American citizens are advised not to travel there, rumors of the November 7th WWE Crown Jewel Premium Live event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are getting louder. At the time of writing, the show is scheduled to be held in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh Season Stadium, a custom arena built specifically for Crown Jewel. and the construction in that arena has already started. With that being said, given everything that’s happened recently, it’s no surprise that some people within WWE aren’t too thrilled to be going.
During the last release “Wrestling Observer RadioDave Meltzer admitted that while he doesn’t know what will happen with the event, he does know that several WWE employees have expressed their feelings about going to Saudi Arabia. While they don’t want to get on Turki Al-Sheikh’s bad side, WWE is trying to bring everyone together on the matter.
“I heard that WWE wasn’t thrilled that some of the employees, the non-wrestlers, actually talked about not wanting to go because they wanted that united front,” Meltzer said. “None of the wrestlers said a word, which doesn’t surprise me because if they did, there would be consequences. It would be stupid to do that, it’s not your fight, but I would expect they can’t get excited about it.”
Meltzer noted that UFC 333 will take place in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 24, which may not be as close to an active war zone as the Crown Jewel, but the company doesn’t stop with conflict and will travel regardless. With such an event, as well as investment in Zuffa Boxing agreeing to TKO in Saudi Arabia, the main reason WWE wants it is monetary reasons.
There is a Backup Plan, just don’t tell anyone
Naturally, there have been discussions among fans as well WWE Crown Jewel 2026 is moving a completely different country, where Meltzer even pointed out last week that the reason the company may not be announcing a replacement in the arena is because it simply hasn’t been found in a short amount of time. However, since that report, Meltzer has been told that there is a backup plan in place should things get to a point where there is no possible way for WWE to travel. The only problem is that no one can say anything because, again, no one wants to upset Al-Sheikh the Turk.
“They won’t even say publicly that there is a backup plan. There is, but they can’t say it publicly, because if they say it publicly, it looks like they’re hesitant to go, and they can’t because the Saudis and the Turks will be very upset with them for getting it out. That’s why no one is talking about the idea of a backup program, and they’re in denial.”
Meltzer concluded by saying that the only way anyone in WWE would publicly announce the idea of a replacement would be if Turki Al-Sheikh himself said it would not be safe to travel to Riyadh, thus giving WWE permission to announce the replacement location.
Crown Jewel has only two matches signed at the momentthough they are matches between the two WWE Crown Jewel Championship champions. For the women, Chelsea Green will face Liv Morgan, although Green is scheduled to defend her WWE Women’s Championship against Roxanne Perez this Monday on “WWE Raw.” On the men’s side, Roman Reigns will face Sami Zayn in the first televised singles match since WWE Elimination Chamber 2023.
Please credit Wrestling Observer Radio when using quotes from this article and give H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
