WWE Crown Jewel - 2nd November (as it stands) - Spoilers and Discussion

Lord TSC

Figure this probably was going to get it's own thread anyway, given the political climate.

Card as it stands is...

Shawn Michaels & HHH vs Undertaker & Kane

WWE Championship Match
AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan

Universal Title Match
Roman Reigns vs Brawn Strowman vs Brock Lesnar

WWE World Cup Tournament.
Participants so far: John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton.

Now, the political issues.

Long story short, the Saudi government are currently being accused of killing a journalist within their consulate in Turkey. The journalist was living in America (though not an American citizen) and worked for the Washington post.

A lot of high end businesses are trying to distance themselves from Saudi Arabia now. Which is shining a light on WWE now.

For example...

Senators Urge WWE to ‘Pause’ Upcoming Saudi Arabia Event: Trump Should Maybe ‘Prevail Upon Them Not Doing It’

“There should be a pause,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told IJR concerning WWE’s business dealings with the kingdom. The South Carolina Republican has been one of the more vocally aggressive senators following the news Khashoggi’s disseverance, saying that “there would be hell to pay” if the missing Washington Post contributor was killed by the Saudi government, as Turkish officials have claimed.

“I want a complete rethinking of our relationship,” Graham added.

To make things even more complicated for the WWE’s business dealings with Saudi Arabia, the company’s co-founder, Linda McMahon, who is also married to the current chairman and CEO, is in the Trump administration as Small Business Administrator, a tie that should lead the president to consider asking McMahon to halt dealings with the kingdom, according to one senator.

“Private enterprise is private enterprise, different than a governmental entity,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told IJR, “but because [Linda McMahon] is part of the president’s cabinet, it falls into the grey area where the administration really should give it some thought and maybe even prevail upon them not doing it.”

brianregan09

I reckon they'll do this one because it's too close to cancel it and they won't go back again

ThePott

I'm much more intrigued by the political drama and what WWE are going to do with this situation than the actual card at least based on the last Saudi show.

It's hard to call how this goes, surely it would be a very boneheaded move for Kane to go considering he's a Mayor. I don't know if WWE are likely to blink either so who knows how this pans out.

J. Marston

There's half a billion to be made over the course of the deal, I think there's no chance of them dropping it.

CastorTroy

I'm sure there were guys who didn't want to go last time, I'm sure more won't want to go this time

JP Liz V1

Y2J and Mysterio to round out WWE (Senior) World Cup

ThePott

I'm aware of the money involved, I just think there'll be a lot of pressure on WWE to drop it in light of what's going on. Not to mention Linda is also a member of the presidential cabinet, no?

WOL: is saying the majority of talent don't want to go but the office wants to.
Also a rumour going around that a backup plan is being worked on in the event it is cancelled, although that's hardly surprising.

CastorTroy

WWE NXT Saudi Arabia?

Itssoeasy

Well it seems that Kane still plans to wrestle even though he has had to release a statement given he is a mayor saying that he won't speculate on the disappearance. I mean this isn't a movie where if you don't see a body the person might not be dead.

PTH2009

So they have a back up plan ?? The Euro tours start the day after (Raw in Madrid and SD in Cardiff)

Pity the 3arena is booked up that nignt ha

If the UK gets it, I'll be pissed off as it would be not possible to make the trip in such short time

Lord TSC

WWE Crown Jewel's webpage has now removed the event location from it's details, as well as the link to buy tickets.

https://www.wwe.com/2018

J. Marston

Two weeks is a long time in news. They'll give the impression that they're considering cancelling it like they're doing now. Something new will take the headlines in a week, people's outrage will dwindle and they'll do the show.

Loughc

PTH2009 wrote: »

So they have a back up plan ?? The Euro tours start the day after (Raw in Madrid and SD in Cardiff)

Pity the 3arena is booked up that nignt ha

If the UK gets it, I'll be pissed off as it would be not possible to make the trip in such short time

The backup plan is to move the matches to Survivor Series except the senior citizens World Cup.

Lithium93_

This is making the rounds now. Haven't seen any official confirmation yet.

https://twitter.com/NewAgeInsiders/status/1051532459739926528

Pentecost

If it wasn’t for Linda’s job I’d say they plough on and use the excuse of contractual commitments or something like that.

ThePott

Lithium93_ wrote: »

This is making the rounds now. Haven't seen any official confirmation yet.

https://twitter.com/NewAgeInsiders/status/1051532459739926528

How reliable are these folks? I see Meltzer said it was still on but that was before this tweet from what I can tell.

seandotcomm

talks of it being moved to Manchester now

ERG89

seandotcomm wrote: »

talks of it being moved to Manchester now

If they miss out on that paycheck I want to see the look on Lesnar & Michaels faces when they got the news.

PTH2009

seandotcomm wrote: »

talks of it being moved to Manchester now

Planning as we speak lol

Hoping there all moved to survivor series tbh as I know personal reasons won't let me go to it

HandsomeBob

ERG89 wrote: »

If they miss out on that paycheck I want to see the look on Lesnar & Michaels faces when they got the news.

No way they won't be getting what they were due, even if comes out of Vinnie's own pocket. The rest of the lads though bar Taker and HHH.... I'm afraid they'll be getting docked alright.

Lord TSC

John Oliver talked about WWE briefly last night. He did a segment on Saudi and their Vision 2030 plans, and called out WWE as the example of how the Saudis are advertising themselves in America.

PTH2009

Latest is doing it on Sunday 4th Nov in Manchester as they have the Raw/SD tapings on there the 2 nights after ??

I'd would deff consider flying over and then back early the Monday if it does happen

They could easily do it at another UK venue on the Fri ?

Frank O. Pinion

PTH2009 wrote: »

I'd would deff consider flying over and then back early the Monday if it does happen

Please keep us up to date on your travel plans. We all really care.

Agent Coulson

Reports today that the Prince is trying to buy Man U no stopping the Saudi's they will just move onto a bigger sporting brand than the WWE for there propaganda.

I'd say the only reason Vince is feeling any pressure to get out of the deal is because of Linda's job with Trump. However Trump loves his Saudi money so there might not be actual pressure from Trump himself.

Rjd2

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Reports today that the Prince is trying to buy Man U no stopping the Saudi's they will just move onto a bigger sporting brand than the WWE for there propaganda.

I'd say the only reason Vince is feeling any pressure to get out of the deal is because of Linda's job with Trump. However Trump loves his Saudi money so there might not be actual pressure from Trump himself.

I doubt Vince or any of his inner circle including Steph give a ****, but they are a publicly traded company and they have important sponsors to keep happy who I assume are not loving this PR whatsoever. I think it will go ahead, but its not as certain as some people think it is.

J. Marston

That Man United report came from The Star. Clicks were probably down during the international break so they threw that nonsense up and it got traction everywhere.

Lord TSC

J. Marston wrote: »

That Man United report came from The Star. Clicks were probably down during the international break so they threw that nonsense up and it got traction everywhere.

Maybe, maybe not.

Liz Sly is the correspondent of the Washington post who covers most of the middle east and she has confirmed that Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is looking to buy out Manchester United completely if possible.

PTH2009

Hopefully we find out tonight on raw what the story is

Half expecting a serious taped announcement about it before the show by Vince or Triple H

CastorTroy

I was about to say they'll focus more on promoting Evolution to buy some time but that wouldn't really be possible.
If they plan on still calling it Crown Jewel, they can just talk about it without naming a place or date

Agent Coulson

The Crown Jewel name could still stay if they move it to the UK.

PTH2009

It's deff going ahead anyway but no mention of the venue so far