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By Dave Scherer on 2018-10-15 10:00:00

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Do you think that WWE is feeling any heat for running "Crown Jewel" in a couple of weeks?  While it always bugged me that they were putting on a Wrestlemania-level event there solely because a despot was giving them huge chunks of money, I accepted that was just their choice. 

Oh yeah, they are catching heat for sure.  Whether they will react to it and make any changes?  That is the question.

Now with the killing of Jamal Khashoggi with the US explicitly saying it was the work of the Saudi government, and the national and international outrage that has already started and will likely escalate, do you think that WWE is feeling some pressure to rethink this event, at least the timing?

Here’s the deal, when WWE got into bed with the Saudis, they knew who they were making a deal with.  The country has a government that doesn’t exactly have a history of tolerance.  WWE weighed the factors and money won out, so they did the deal. And I can’t say they were wrong to do it.  The Saudis are a US ally and a lot of corporations do business with them.  With that said, when things like the alleged murder happen, they have to realize that it will put them in a bad position, and it has.

If the show does go on in Saudi Arabia, do you think WWE will run propaganda videos of how Saudi Arabia is changing for the better, like they did last time?

There is no way that they should even consider doing that.  Personally, I understand how business works and all of the repercussions that would come from them pulling out of Saudi Arabia, so if they go on with the show I understand why they are doing it.  I won’t condemn them for that.  However, if they run propaganda videos about how much more tolerant the Saudi government is becoming, they will look really, really bad and they will be crucified by the media for it.

With everyone weighing in their opinion on how WWE should cancel the Crown Jewel event, instead of canceling it, they could move it to possibly Dubai, or even into Qatar, which would still make sense being WWE is doing their World Cup tournament and the FIFA World Cup being in Qatar in 2022. It would of course push it back to a later date, but might make the most sense at the moment. Your thoughts?

They already have done all of the legwork and preparation for the show to go on November 2, so they can’t push the event back.  If they decide to pull out of Saudi Arabia, moving the show to another country in the region would be a solid idea.  They will be touring in Europe so they could move it there as well.

The news stated this morning that an American journalist was killed in Saudi Arabia this morning. And possibly there are political motivations and one thing being considered is a flight ban to SA from the US. So I was wondering, if that did happen, would crown Jewel be cancelled? Would they need special flight permissions? Would they run the show as advertised but out of New York or an American venue do you think?

If that happened, WWE would just reroute the talent into another country and transport them into Saudi Arabia from there.

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