After a fair bit of speculation and various reports, and likely WWE’s own hesitance and confusion, WWE Crown Jewel 2019 has now been confirmed to take place on Thursday, October 31st. Like last year, the event will take place at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. No word yet on what’s planned for the show or if women will be allowed to compete this time, which they were reportedly still trying to make happen as late as the day of the show back at Super Show-Down. Personally I’ve been of the assumption that Dolph Ziggler will be facing Shawn Michaels at the event, but that’s just a guess based on how things have gone.
Originally it was long-thought that Crown Jewel would be taking place on November 1st, the day after what is now scheduled. But this was called into question when it was announced that SmackDown would be moving back to Fridays when it made the move to FOX in October. This would mean the show would overlap with not only Crown Jewel but all Saudi Arabia events, since they’ve traditionally been on Fridays. This, apparently, was always a demand from the Saudi Arabian government and General Sports Authority, the ringmasters behind these particular events. They’ve been noted for having a huge influence on the details of these shows, specifying venues and throwing tons of money at old legends to get them on these cards.
But it would appear that on this occasion, they relented, as this show will take place on a Thursday. Seems likely to me that this will be the standard going forward.
As always, these Saudi Arabian shows are difficult to talk about.
There’s an air of… I was going to write ‘sleaze’ but that’s underselling it. It’s a sinister vibe. I mean it was controversial from the beginning, but ever since the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi it’s really been put in a different light. Not just in the vein of how much worse it now looks to continually work with the Saudi Arabian government but how up a creek they were with this deal.
A 10-year contract with an autocratic country leader, effectively. There’s no welching on this, there’s no breaking that contract. To do so would likely legitimately put your own health and the health of those working for you at risk. This isn’t me exaggerating or making some distasteful joke, it’s honestly what I think. To refuse to put on these shows would be risking a diplomatic incident. So WWE have to continue with this, and they’ll be in this situation for the next eight years. Crown Jewel is the 4th event of the contract, and one can assume going by this pace that we’ll have 16 left afterwards.
I fear for the people who have to make this trip over and over.
I recall Finn Balor tweeting out a picture of himself with an equality t-shirt, promoting LGBT rights. This would be a normal thing for him, except he did so whilst posing in the empty arena in which Super Show-Down was about to take place later that night. He was in Saudi Arabia wearing that shirt, and made it public. Wisely, he seemed to wait until after he’d left the country to post this.
Being gay is literally a crime in Saudi Arabia. Punishments range from chemical castration to lifetime prison sentences to outright torture and of course the death penalty. They also have a sordid, brutal history dealing with those who dare speak out against their practices. Like, Khashoggi, for example.
I was afraid for Finn, honestly. And I genuinely hope he doesn’t end up on the card this time around. If I were him, I’d be concerned about returning to this country.
None of this is political, this is just how things are. It’s the reality of what you deal with when you’re over there. It’s a frightening, harrowing reality. One that, if you’re following WWE, you’ll have to keep facing until atleast 2028.
