With Crown Jewel fast approaching on October 31st, do not expect the following superstars to be showing up and/or talking about the event:
Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Aleister Black, and Sami Zayn.
Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens have stood steadfast against attending ANY events in Saudi Arabia since attending “Greatest Royal Rumble”. The reason for this is that their real life friend, Sami Zayn, is barred from entering the Country under any circumstance. Owens also stands in protest over the wrongful death and coverup of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi Government.
As mentioned above, Sami Zayn is barred from entering Saudi Arabia for any reason whatsoever due to his support for Syria. Zayn has a fund called “Sami for Syria”, which supports “Syrian American Medical Society. It is severe enough that he has been warned that if he steps foot in the country, he WILL be arrested and killed. This is also stemming from the fact that Sami Zayn is of Syrian descent and due to the ongoing war between Syria and Saudi Arabia.
John Cena has stood steadfast since appearing at the first event due to the reneging of the deal towards the fair treatment of women by Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman. As you may recall, during “The Greatest Royal Rumble”, the Saudi State ran several TV spots about how they were “improving the lives of women” and would continue to do so based on the agreement with WWE. This was confirmed when the Saudi Government made several arrests of those protesting for equal rights for women less than a month following “The Greatest Royal Rumble”. Cena is also boycotting an appearance due to the hidden assassination of Khashoggi.
Aleister Black is prohibited from appearing at any events in Saudi Arabia due to having non-Muslim tattoos on his body, including a massive back piece of Lilith (seen below):
When questioned about this last year, Black had the following to say:
”She was first woman to ever rebel against paradise. The reason she is there [is] for equality, equality for every man and woman.”
There are likely many others within WWE that refuse to travel for personal and/or religious reasons, but are keeping quiet on the situation. There are even unconfirmed reports floating around that Owens, Cena, and Bryan have refused large amounts of pay to appear at the October 31st event. This could be the reason for announcing Lesnar vs Velasquez and Strowman vs Fury at this years event as they need “big names” to draw in the audience.
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