WWE Wants 'United Front' Amidst Crown Jewel Uncertainty

With the escalating conflicts in the Middle East reaching a point where American citizens are being advised to not travel there, talks about the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel Premium Live Event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 7 are growing ever louder. At the time of writing, the show is set to take place as planned in the Saudi capital at the Riyadh Seasonal Stadium, a special arena constructed for Crown Jewel specifically, and construction on that arena has already started. With that said, given everything that has happened recently, it's no surprise that some people within WWE aren't exactly thrilled about going.

During a recent episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer admitted that while he doesn't know what it going to happen with the event, he does know that several WWE employees have made their feelings known about traveling to Saudi Arabia. Though because they don't want to get on the bad side of Turki Al-Sheikh, WWE is trying to bring everyone together on the matter.

"I heard that WWE wasn't thrilled that some of the employees, non-wrestlers, did actually talk about not wanting to go because they want that united front," Meltzer said. "Not one wrestler said a word, which doesn't surprise me because if they did, there would be repercussions. It would be stupid to do so, it's not your fight, but I would expect that they can't be thrilled about this."

Meltzer noted that UFC 333 will be taking place in Abu Dhabi on October 24, which might not as close to the active warzone as Crown Jewel would be, but that company is not being phased with the conflicts and will travel over regardless. Because of an event like that, as well as the investments into Zuffa Boxing that TKO has agreed upon in Saudi Arabia, the main reason why WWE would want to travel is for monetary reasons.

Naturally there has also been the discussion amongst fans about WWE Crown Jewel 2026 being moved to a completely different country, with Meltzer even noting last week that a reason the company may not have announced a replacement arena is that one simply hasn't been found on short notice. However, since that report, Meltzer has been told that there is a backup plan in case things reach a point where there is no possible way WWE could travel over. The only problem is no one can say anything because, again, no one wants to upset Turki Al-Sheikh.

"They will not even publicly say that there's a backup plan. There is, but they can't publicly say it because if they publicly say it, it sounds like they're wavering on going and they can't have that out because the Saudi's and Turki would be very upset at them for having that out. That's why no one talks about the idea of a backup plan and they deny it."

Meltzer rounded off by saying that the only way anyone in WWE would be able to publicly announce the idea of a backup is if Turki Al-Sheikh himself says that traveling over to Riyadh wouldn't be safe, therefore giving WWE permission to announce a replacement location.

Crown Jewel only has two matches currently signed at this time, though they are the two champion vs. champion matches for the WWE Crown Jewel Championships. For the women, Chelsea Green will take on Liv Morgan, though Green will have to defend her WWE Women's Championship against Roxanne Perez this Monday on "WWE Raw." As for the men, Roman Reigns will go one-on-one with Sami Zayn in their first televised singles match since WWE Elimination Chamber 2023.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.