Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/10/29/bobby-lashley-replaces-john-cena-in-the-world-cup-tournament-at-crown-jewel/
On Monday’s episode of Raw, it was made official that John Cena is off this Friday’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
During a backstage segment, Baron Corbin announced that Bobby Lashley will be taking Cena’s spot in the World Cup tournament. The storyline explanation was that Cena didn’t qualify for the tournament.
Lashley joins Seth Rollins, Kurt Angle, Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, Randy Orton, and Jeff Hardy in the one-night tournament.
Last week, it was reported by Robbie Fox at Barstool Sports that John Cena was refusing to work the show. We were able to independently confirm this and it while the WWE continued to promote Cena, we were told that Cena was off the show.
They announced the opening round matches for the World Cup tournament as well on Raw:
*Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley
*Kurt Angle vs. Dolph Ziggler
*Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz
*Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton