During a recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” WWE SmackDown announcer Michael Cole opened up on WWE’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia for the Crown Jewel 2022 pay-per-view event and the safety concerns they had.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On if there were any safety concerns following the warning of an imminent attack: “Not at all. There was a threat, but we were in the capital city of Riyadh. We had assurance from a number of different places, including the State Department.”
On the progression Saudi Arabia has made: “It’s been a progression. 2018 we had the first women’s match ever in Saudi Arabia, which was Natalya and Lacey Evans. We moved on to a championship match a year later, and this year, to your point, we had two matches. They were both for championships. We had the Women’s Tag Team Championship match, and for the first time ever, we had a women’s stipulation match in Saudi Arabia, which is a Last Woman’s Standing match with Bayley and Bianca. So we’re gradually moving on. The country is starting to westernize a bit, and we’re hoping to continue that trend.”
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