As noted, WWE has confirmed that Crown Jewel will take place as originally planned. It’s well known that WWE has come under some heat because of their relationship with the Saudi Arabian government after it was reported that the government ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
On his show, ESPN’s Dan Le Batard ripped into WWE for taking Saudi Arabia’s money by holding this show despite the backlash. Here is what he said (h/t to Fightful):
“Did you see that WWE is still going to Saudi Arabia? What a bad decision that is. But, it’s the sewer and the sewer is going to behave like the sewer. There’s a lot of money in Saudi Arabia, so much money, so wrestling is going back to Saudi Arabia as we wonder whether Saudi Arabia kills journalists with bone saws.
It’s not a hard statement to make. You’re usually not this overt about ‘We’ll take your money even though you’re being investigated for killing a journalist with a bone saw.’ We’re usually not quite that overt like, ‘Yeah, we’ll take your money, your blood money, no matter what.’ Don’t they have people who are refusing to partake even though Vince McMahon runs something of a dictatorship?”
WWE presents the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium and will air on the WWE Network.
