WWE is no stranger to controversy within their company spanning over lawsuits, deaths, and drugs, but by far the biggest the company has faced was the decision to continue to hold Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. On October 2ndjournalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. As a result, over the next 4 weeks several U.S. Senators, wrestlers, and fans expressed their discontent with WWE and encouraged them to move or cancel the event. Even with this pressure, John Cena and Daniel Bryan pulling out, and fans actively committing to not watch the event WWE decided to go ahead with the event, which was the correct business and social move for the company.
Continuing with Crown Jewel was not an easy decision for WWE but the correct one. If they pulled out of the event WWE would have effectively terminated their agreement with the Saudi General Sports Authority, which is a 10-year deal and has an estimated value of 200 to 400 million dollars. Pulling out of this deal would have resulted in WWE stock taking a hit in a time when it is expected to be entering a bear market. Pulling out would have destroyed any gains the company has made in the last 2 years and would be putting current investors and future investors at risk of staying with and trusting the company going forward. By continuing with the event WWE has shown that they are focused on deals that not only provide free cash flow but also provide big pay outs that put the company way beyond the black.
Crown Jewel, while it may not seem like it, is a symbol that Saudi Arabia is changing as a culture and is becoming more western as they are open to wrestling. While women are still not allowed to wrestle on the card, change is very slow as WWE has only done 2 events in that country. With WWE in their country doing events, as the fan base grows, the country becomes more diverse as they have committed to doing so by 2028, it is only a matter of time before women are allowed on the card. Furthermore, WWE has begun to make this transition as Renee Young was allowed to fulfill her announcing duties at ringside and be front and center to call the matches. This shows that the government of Saudi Arabia has become more open to the idea of women wrestling and being part of their shows as this was not the case with the Greatest Royal Rumble event where no women were involved in any way on the card. The fact that Renee Young was allowed to be ringside with the event streamed worldwide in Saudi Arabia shows that while progress is slow, they as a country are changing and are showing the world those changes.
Going into Crown Jewel WWE the roster was severally limited. Roman Reigns is out battling leukemia, John Cena and Daniel Bryan both declined to wrestle at Crown Jewel, and the women were prohibited from wrestling in Saudi Arabia. Due to these circumstances, WWE created a very unique solution to the problem and that was double booking and triple booking wrestlers in one night at the same event through the World Cup Tournament. This shows the cleverness of WWE as they are able to use their talent effectively when they have a roster that has no storyline or is wrestlers are injured. Furthermore, since WWE is in a foreign country, that just behaved in an alarming matter to the world, double booking and triple booking wrestlers allows the company to bring less wrestlers into the country and provide more resources to the ones that are wrestling to keep them safe. Beyond, the World Cup WWE was smart to bring in Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Kane all of whom have built fan bases over there during their careers as fans want to see them wrestle and that sells tickets. The match was branded as D Generation X vs. The Brothers of Destruction, which generated interest in the and helped to promote the event in both Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world. Finally, WWE, with all the controversy, chose to bring back Hulk Hogan. This was a great move, as he previous left the company under controversial terms and if he did come back it would be problematic for WWE due to him leaving the last time. In this circumstance, since Crown Jewel was already generating enough controversy, Hulk Hogan returning was over looked and was not controversial at all. This provides a massive benefit to WWE as they can now use him to boost certain events and shows, sell more tickets or merchandise for the WWE Network when needed.
Despite what people are claiming, Crown Jewel was not a bust, but rather a mega success economically, culturally, and proving that WWE turns every bad situation into a winning situation for both its fans and investors.
