When a contingent of wrestling superstars meet in the ring at the WWE’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia on November 2, John Cena will not be anywhere near the ring.
Rumored to be sitting out Crown Jewel due to misgivings about the event going on as planned in the wake of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Cena’s absence was confirmed last night on Raw.
During the Monday night show, onscreen general manager Baron Corbin informed Bobby Lashley he would be replacing Cena in the World Cup tournament.
.@BaronCorbinWWE was impressed with @fightbobby's performance tonight on #Raw… pic.twitter.com/hwDTCumVHS
— WWE (@WWE) October 30, 2018
Still advertised as performing, Daniel Bryan was also rumored to be sitting out the event in protest.
Should that happen, the WWE will have to replace two stars, not just one, thanks to its controversial decision to stick it out in Saudi Arabia.
Last week, the WWE announced the Crown Jewel event would take place in Riyadh on Friday as originally scheduled. It hasn’t been an overwhelmingly popular decision as the company’s stock price has dropped over 20% since last Monday.
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