New WWE Championship Match Set For Crown Jewel
AJ Styles has a new opponent.
Just as it was widely reported yesterday, Daniel Bryan has pulled out of Friday's Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, with a new WWE Title match scheduled during last night's episode of SmackDown.
After Bryan confronted AJ Styles at the top of the show, sometimes-commissioner Shane McMahon conveniently appeared to announce the pair would have a title match right there, right then. AJ bested Bryan clean following a Calf Crusher, only for his celebrations to be cut short by an invading Samoa Joe, who locked the champ in a Coquina Clutch.
Later in the show, Styles asked actual SmackDown GM for a match with Samoa Joe at Crown Jewel, to which she acquiesced.
Daniel Bryan will no longer appear in Saudi Arabia later this week. According to WWE insiders, Bryan had asked not to fly to the kingdom, though no specific reason for his rain-check has been given.
Bryan joins John Cena on the list of WWE superstars pulling out of the show. WWE have faced immense pressure to cancel the PPV in the wake of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but the company have ignored such calls. Stephanie McMahon recently referred to the Khashoggi situation as 'heinous', but noted continuing with Crown Jewel was a 'business decision'.