5 WWE Superstars who have refused to work in Saudi Arabia

WWE are heading back to Saudi Arabia next month with the WWE Super ShowDown set to take place in Jeddah. The pay-per-view is scheduled to take place on June 7th and has some fantastic matches lined up.

The Undertaker and Goldberg are set to battle for the first time, and a 50-man Battle Royal has also been announced. Along with those two, Kofi Kingston is set to take on the returning Dolph Ziggler while Finn Balor will be defending his Intercontinental championship against Andrade.

Roman Reigns will also be in action when he takes on Shane McMahon. The Best in the World returns to the place he won the title last summer and is expected to be accompanied by Elias and/or Drew McIntyre.

Triple H beat Batista at WrestleMania and is now set to take on another member of the Evolution – Randy Orton. These epic matches have been confirmed so far, and rumours suggest Seth Rollins will be defending his title against Mr Money in the Bank, Brock Lesnar.

However, despite all this, there are a few superstars who won't be present at the PPV. 5 superstars have refused to work in the Middle East, and they are:

#5 Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens lost to Kofi Kingston at Money in the Bank but was set to get another chance at the title at WWE Super ShowDown. However, his refusal to work at the pay-per-view forced WWE Creative to change plans, and they have brought in Dolph Ziggler.

Reports suggest that Owens' family was not keen on his going to the Middle East, and that made him pull out of the event. The former WWE Universal Champion has already got two shots at the title since his return in March but has not got hold of the title just yet.

#4 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan has yet again refused to perform in Saudi Arabia. The former WWE champion was booked to be a part of WWE Crown Jewel last summer but did not make the trip following the mysterious death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Middle East.

This time around, WWE were confident that Bryan would make the trip but yet again, he has refused to go. He is currently one-half of the SmackDown Live Tag Team champions, and it would be interesting to see how WWE go about with that title.

SmackDown Live tag titles were not defended at WWE Money in the Bank as well and not having them defended at two consecutive pay-per-views might see the WWE Universe losing interest in the titles.

Bryan and Rowan might be forced to drop the titles in the upcoming shows before winning it back after Super ShowDown or at SummerSlam.

#3 Aleister Black

Aleister Black is yet to make an in-ring appearance ever since he was drafted to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-up. The former NXT champion has been dropping some mysterious promos but there is no clue on who his next opponent will be.

Rumors suggest that Black too has refused to work at the WWE Super ShowDown as he is a satanist. He has a lot of tattoos on his body and a lot of them are religious. His back has a portrait of Lilith – a demonic figure from mythology who rebelled against God and was cast out of Paradise because she refused to be subservient to men – something that might not do down well with the Saudi Arabian crowd.

Wrestling Observer Radio have also reported the same and claim that WWE were also not very keen on taking him to the Middle East.

#2 Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn is set to sit out of the PPV yet again

Just like Aleister Black, Sami Zayn's refusal to work at WWE Super ShowDown is something WWE are happy about. The company was not keen on having the Superstar at the show in Saudi Arabia because of his descent.

Sami was pulled from WWE's Greatest Royal Rumble last summer because he is of Syrian descent. The Saudis have had strained relations with Syria for several years now and him performing at the event would not have gone down well.

For the same reason, WWE have kept him off this year's event as well but have not openly confirmed the reason.

WWE put out a simple statement last summer and are likely to use the same this time around too. “WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world,” the statement read.

#1 John Cena

The Saudi Arabians want the best to perform at the pay-per-view and that is why we saw Triple H and Shawn Micheals team up last summer against the Brothers of Destruction – The Undertaker and Kane. This summer, we see the return of The Undertaker when he takes on another WWE legend, Goldberg.

The #1 star Saudi fans wanted to see was reportedly John Cena. The 16-time World Champion is famous all around the world and it is no surprise that he was in demand at Crown Jewel and the Greatest Royal Rumble as well.

Cena, however, refused to work at the pay-per-view as he was not comfortable appearing the country. He too reportedly cited the mysterious death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Middle East as the reason for him to performing there.

it's quite clear that he would refuse to perform this time as well and we cannot rule out WWE asking him as well. They need 50 Superstars for the Battle Royal alone and would take anyone who is willing to perform.