WWE Crown Jewel

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WWE Crown Jewel
File:WWE Crown Jewel PPV KSA Poster.jpg
Information
Promotion WWE
Brand(s) Raw
SmackDown
Sponsor(s) Saudi General Sports Authority[1]
Date November 2, 2018
Venue King Saud University Stadium[1]
City Riyadh, Saudi Arabia[1]
WWE Network event chronology
Evolution WWE Crown Jewel NXT TakeOver: WarGames

WWE Crown Jewel[2] is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event promoted by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands that will take place on November 2, 2018, at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[1] The event will host the first-ever WWE World Cup tournament.[2] It will also mark the in-ring return of Shawn Michaels, who retired in 2010.

Production

Background

On March 5, 2018, WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority announced the Greatest Royal Rumble, a live event to be held on April 27, 2018 at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.[3][4] On September 17, 2018, WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority announced the follow up to the Greatest Royal Rumble, Crown Jewel, a live event to be held on November 2, 2018 at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. The event is a part of a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership between WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s social and economic reform program.[5][6] On October 6, 2018, it was announced that the venue for Crown Jewel was changed from the King Fahd International Stadium to the King Saud University Stadium.[1][7]

Storylines

The card will consist of matches resulting from scripted storylines, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[8][9][10] with storylines produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.[11]

At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar defended the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Before the match began, Braun Strowman came out and announced that he would be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on the winner. During the match, however, Strowman was incapacitated by Lesnar, preventing him from cashing in. The distraction allowed Reigns to defeat Lesnar and win the championship, ending Lesnar's 504-day reign.[12] The following night on Raw, General Manager Kurt Angle told Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman that although Lesnar had a contractual rematch, it would not occur for an indefinite period of time.[13] The following week, Strowman announced that he would be cashing in against Reigns at Hell in a Cell inside the namesake structure.[14] At the event, Lesnar interfered in the match by kicking in the cell door and attacking both men, rendering them unable to continue, thus ruling the match a no contest and Reigns retained the championship.[15] The following night on Raw, both Reigns and Strowman called out Lesnar, resulting in Acting General Manager Baron Corbin scheduling a triple threat match between Reigns, Strowman, and Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel.[16] On the October 22 episode of Raw, however, Reigns relinquished the championship due to a legitimate leukemia, making the match a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the now vacant title.[17][18]

On September 17, 2018, WWE also scheduled the WWE World Cup, an eight-man tournament to "determine the best in the world."[2] The tournament will consist of four wrestlers from Raw and four wrestlers from SmackDown. On the October 8 episode of Raw, free agent John Cena was announced as the first entrant to represent Raw. That same episode, a 10-man battle royal commenced where the winner would be added to the tournament. Acting General Manager Baron Corbin took part with nine local competitors, but was lastly eliminated by a returning Kurt Angle, disguised as The Conquistador, thus Angle won the battle royal to qualify for the tournament.[19] Two more qualifiers were decided on the October 9 episode of SmackDown, where Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton qualified for the tournament by defeating Samoa Joe and Big Show, respectively.[20] Raw's final two qualifiers were decided on the October 15 episode of Raw, where Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler qualified by defeating Drew McIntyre and Dean Ambrose, respectively.[21] SmackDown's final two qualifiers were decided on the SmackDown 1000 special, where The Miz and Rey Mysterio, the latter making his full-time WWE return, qualified for the tournament by defeating Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, respectively.[22]

At Super Show-Down, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe by submission in a no countout, no disqualification match to retain the WWE Championship, while Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz to earn a WWE Championship match. Following Bryan's win, it was announced by SmackDown General Manager Paige that he would receive his WWE Championship match against Styles at Crown Jewel.[23]

At Super Show-Down, Triple H defeated The Undertaker in a No Disqualification match. After the match, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, and Kane showed mutual respect for one another until Undertaker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels.[23] On the following Raw, Triple H and Michaels formally rechristened themselves as D-Generation X, challenging The Brothers of Destruction to a tag team match at Crown Jewel, marking Michaels' first match since being retired by The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010.[19]

Controversy

As had already been the case with their previous show in Saudi Arabia, the Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE came under scrutiny for catering to a state accused of severe human rights abuse, leading a war of attrition in Yemen and surpressing women's rights.[24]

In wake of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, WWE has faced calls to cancel the event, with prominent US Democratic and Republican politicians criticizing the company's endeavors in Saudi Arabia.[25] Questions were raised whether because of the position of Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, who is the wife of WWE CEO Vince McMahon and a former WWE executive herself, WWE's endeavours in Saudi Arabia could still be viewed as a strictly private business enterprise. Due to this, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez urged the US government to pressure WWE into canceling the event, while Republican Lindsey Graham, among others, called for WWE to reconsider their business deal with the Saudi kingdom.[26] English comedian and political commentator John Oliver also weighed in on the controversy on his show Last Week Tonight, criticizing WWE for what he saw as blatant pro-Saudi propaganda.[27][28] Knox County Mayor and professional wrestler Glenn "Kane" Jacobs, who is scheduled to compete in a tag team match, announced he will work at the event,[29] contrasting reports that the majority of WWE's wrestlers felt uncomfortable working the show.[30] Former WWE wrestler John "Bradshaw" Layfield spoke on Fox News in favor of the event in order to promote change,[31] while current WWE wrestler Randy Orton had similar remarks when speaking with TMZ.[32] WWE continues to promote the show but has since erased all references to Saudi Arabia as the event's location.[33] On October 19, the day tickets were to go on sale, the Saudi government confirmed the death of Khashoggi within the consulate and WWE.com removed ticket information from the event page.[34]

Matches

No. Matches Stipulations
1 Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar Singles match for the vacant WWE Universal Championship[35]
2 AJ Styles (c) vs. Daniel Bryan Singles match for the WWE Championship[36]
3 D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) vs. The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) Tag team match[37]
4 WWE World Cup Eight-man tournament[38]
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  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

WWE World Cup

Four participants will come from Raw and four participants will come from SmackDown. All eight participants have been confirmed.[38]

Wrestler Date qualified Brand represented Notes
John Cena October 8, 2018 Raw Announced as a direct participant.
Kurt Angle Qualified by winning a battle royal as The Conquistador.
Jeff Hardy October 9, 2018 SmackDown Qualified by defeating Samoa Joe via referee stoppage.
Randy Orton Qualified by defeating Big Show.
Seth Rollins October 15, 2018 Raw Qualified by defeating Drew McIntyre via countout.
Dolph Ziggler Qualified by defeating Dean Ambrose.
The Miz October 16, 2018 SmackDown Qualified by defeating Rusev.
Rey Mysterio Qualified by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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