Update On WWE Crown Jewel In Saudi Arabia As Middle East Conflict Intensifies

Dave Meltzer had shed some insight on the backstage considerations being made over WWE Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Crown Jewel is scheduled for November 7 and will see WWE return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time since June's Night of Champions. The Royal Rumble in January was also held in Riyadh. 

Since the Rumble, however, the Middle East has seen further conflict; Palestine and Yemen have been the subject of continual attacks from Israel, but a joint Israeli-US strike on Iran in February has since seen Western-aligned Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia targeted in retaliatory attacks. As a result, the US Department of Defense has advised against travel to the region. 

Meltzer said during "Wrestling Observer Radio" that despite the warning, WWE is still holding on to the date of November 7 and continuing under the belief that it will hold the event in KSA, though that decision might ultimately fall out of its control. 

He further said that, had the event been scheduled for this week, it surely would have been canceled already. In terms of whether missing the event would come at the detriment of the long-term deal between KSA's Public Investment Fund and WWE, he said that the event would simply be postponed to a later date and thus the deal would be extended to encompass the time missed out. 

The official advice from the US Department of Defense reads: "Reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia due to risk of Iranian drone and missile targeting of American interests, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans, and local laws regarding social media activity. Some areas have increased risk."

Specifically, the Yemeni border to KSA has been assigned a Level 4 'Do Not Travel' order with a greater risk of the aforementioned.