7 Early DISASTERS From WWE In Saudi Arabia
5. The Best In The World (Crown Jewel, 2018)
When WWE announced the WWE World Cup as an eight-man tournament to crown the “Best in the World,” it actually didn’t sound like a terrible idea. The original field featured eight former World champions and could have produced some interesting matchups. Instead, WWE booked a tournament ultimately won by the boss’ son in a sub-three-minute joke of a match to kick off a maddening months-long gimmick that wasted entirely too much television time on a power-hungry GM storyline.
First, John Cena withdrew from the tournament after the Saudi government. per UN inquiry and US intelligence, kidnapped, murdered and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He was replaced by Bobby Lashley. Then the actual tournament unfurled at Crown Jewel, with a second round featuring Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio and The Miz. No disrespect to these four men, but that is not exactly a Murderers’ Row of WWE’s best.
Worse yet, the finals boasted Dolph versus Miz, truly a battle for the “Best in the World.” It already felt like this was a huge rib on the fans, but WWE hadn’t even begun to hoodwink them.
Drew McIntyre attacked Miz, leaving him unable to compete. Rather than award the match to Ziggler, SmackDown GM Shane McMahon entered the match on Miz’s behalf… and won in less than three minutes. A tournament originally featuring Cena, Mysterio, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle ended with Shane-O-Mac hoisting the trophy.
To call this a mockery would be a gross understatement.