6 Ups And 11 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel

9. Where Are We Again?

You had to wonder how WWE would address the entire Saudi Arabia issue, being that they had not referenced the location of Crown Jewel in the weeks leading up to the PPV.

The solution? Painstakingly jump through hoops to avoid mentioning “Saudi Arabia” at any time during the PPV. Whereas at Greatest Royal Rumble WWE aired numerous segments about Saudi Arabia and mentioned it repeatedly, the chyron only identified the location as “Riyadh,” which is Saudi Arabia’s capital.

Even Crown Jewel host Hulk Hogan at one point said he landed here… at Crown Jewel. Big E for his pre-match hype act didn’t name the locale, just said, “Awwwwwwww Crown Jewel!”

Look, there was no good way to address this once WWE decided to go forward with the PPV. It was a lose-lose situation. But to outright ignore the location, going so far as to mention the city the event was being held but not the country… it’s just such a WWE thing to do. Rather than own the reality, they just stuck their collective heads in the sand.