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On Friday we brought you the news that WWE held an impromptu meeting to discuss the Saudi Arabia controversy surrounding the alleged assassination of Jamal Khashoggi and how to deal with it, noting that WWE were considering a new venue possibly in the UK, as well as the fact that several current WWE employees were not happy with it.
Later that day other wrestling sites started picking up these bits of information, with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter later reporting that WWE were indeed looking for backup venues and had plans to move matches to Survivor Series, and that several WWE employees were reluctant to go to Saudi Arabia, confirming our story! So remember folks we were first!
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Later that day the news broke that United States Senators had started to put pressure on WWE not to go forward with its Crown Jewel event, but PWInsider reported that WWE employees were still going ahead with working on the logistics and planning for the event, as if it was going ahead.
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This upset several people on social media, including former employee Gail Kim who continued to urge WWE to cancel the event.
Our source tells us that WWE are seriously considering and planning the cancellation of the Crown Jewel event, with the likelihood of it not going ahead said to be 'around 75 percent'.
The reason it's taking WWE so long, and why they're still working towards it for now is because they have contracts with Saudi Arabia to put these shows on, and they now need to work out how to proceed in a way that minimises the potential legal blow back and financial loss to the company.
I am being told that we can expect a full announcement on the matter around Wednesday this week, with the expectation being that the announcement will be that Crown Jewel has been cancelled, the AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan, The Brothers of Destruction vs DX, and Reigns vs Lesnar vs Strowman matches will be moved to Survivor Series, and the World Cup will be dropped, or held as a separate event.
As has already been noted, WWE has stopped mentioning Saudi Arabia completely on Twitter. Why would they do this if they fully intended on going ahead with the event?
I am told that Raw and SmackDown will also completely minimise any reference to Crown Jewel and Saudi Arabia. Triple H tweeted about a memorable week, and also didn't mention Saudi Arabia at all.
There are still possibilities that WWE could move the show entirely or parts of it, most likely the World Cup to England. Triple H and Shawn Michaels as well as other top WWE officials and staff are in the UK for the NXT UK tapings, and have been looking to secure a backup venue, something we reported in our original report.
The Daily Beast reported on WWE's relationship with Saudi Arabia and interestingly noted that the Manchester Arena was free on Sunday 4th November, meaning that WWE could feasibly move the event to England.
Should WWE cancel its event in Jeddah, it’s possible they could reschedule the pay-per-view card for two days later on Sunday, November 4 in Manchester, England. The company is already scheduled to tape television in the Manchester Arena the following Monday and Tuesday.
According to the venue’s website, the building is open on Sunday to make it a three-day run in Manchester. Doing so would allow WWE to put a positive spin on the news, giving the avid United Kingdom fan base its first pay-per-view event since 1992.
Now at this point nothing has been decided, just that we hear cancelling the event is being strongly considered, with the WWE possibly going forward with doing so.
This is all unconfirmed, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'm sure you'll agree that most of the news released after our report on Friday has corroborated what we said. We'll continue to 'monitor the situation' and bring you updates as they happen!
Note: The views are of the author and not necessarily of Sportskeeda
Do you think WWE should cancel their Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
