October 22, 2018 —Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports reported John Cena and Daniel Bryan are “refusing” to work the Crown Jewel event. WWE was mum on the rumors and even promoted Cena as part of the World Cup tournament that night on Raw.
October 27, 2018 —Tickets for WWE Crown Jewel officially went on sale. Tickets range from $6.66 to $26.66. Hours later, Saudi’s Chairman of the General Sport Authority noted the event sold out.
Depends on who you trust in the story.
Shows been booked how long ago? C’mon fam.
Audience are not fucked over tho fam if WWE took them off the card like they wanted before tickets go on sale.
And yet the storyline title match was made how long ago?
The Cena participation in that tournament wasn’t announced last week.
Oh for sure man, the storyline was probably done before a journalist was murdered.
Card Subject to Change.
Life Subject to Change.
But if you feel bad that fans are not getting what they paid for that might be the fault of company and not the performers in this case.
The company is still doing the show…those two aren’t after being advertised in advance.
Pretty cut and dry.
And considering Daniel Bryan was still following the storyline after the journalist (who was either chopped up while alive or now I guess it’s strangled) was allegedly murdered.
Sure sounds like it’s just folding under pressure.
Could be, could not, you know just as much as me?
Judging by what we know about Bryan’s politics is that he wanted off that show when things turned south and the company continued to advertise him anyway.
Cena probably made a decision that the PR hit isn’t worth it. He’ll make more money outside the WWE and look better in Hollywoods eyes bailing.
Except Colin Kaepernick’s on the field talents sucked after a while, and Bryan is still good at what he does. Spoken from a diehard 49er fan who watched Colin Kaepernick’s decline in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Bryan and Cena are independent contractors, it’s up to them if they want to appear. That’s WWE’s problem they advertised them without confirming, it’s on WWE not the performers.
Cena was reported as off the show on Oct. 25 - before tickets went on sale - so fans should have had no expectation he was going.
Tickets were $6.66? Sounds like some devilish shit going on.
Kaep definitely declined (as did the organization around him), but if anyone thinks his play is the reason he’s not on a NFL roster they’re not being honest with themselves.
As far as the Nov. 2nd show goes, I love that they could be adding Terry to this cluster. There’s poetic justice that THIS is the show Hogan returns to…What a joke. 
I’d agree with you. If Nathan Peterman and Derek Anderson can get jobs in the NFL, Kaep definitely could. Kaep at this stage of his career is more of a backup than a starter though.
Yeah, I don’t fault any of the middle to lower tier guys for not going. The veterans and top guys missed an opportunity to show more leadership. But also I can understand that even they need a payday.
At the end of the day I put full blame on the WWE for getting in bed with the devil. They put their talent in an awful position and should have known that this could have easily blown up in their face.
Agreed. I think Kaep could still start for about 7 teams in the league, and he a quality backup for the rest of the teams. In a post-Peterman world, the argument that Kaep’s not good enough doesn’t fly.
“Getting in bed with the devil”…and people wonder why the middle east are hostile towards the west. 
But still, I guess that doesn’t count for both American and Canadian governments selling them weapons.
I got respect for Bryan but you need to realise that WWE will be paying the same amount for not going kinda like what they are doing with the female performers this weekend.
As far as the other veterans are concern, I don’t feel it’s about the money at all, I just feel like they are from another generation we’re the mentality was the show most go on no matter what and that the morality question wasn’t as big of a deal as it is today. The mentality is that if fans paid to see you, you show up and give them they’re money’s worth. That how HBK, taker, HHH and Kane think. The world wasn’t as PC as it is now and That’s the example they chose to set that no matter what, if you are book for a show, you don’t complain and you do the job. It as nothing to do with Money because these guy really don’t need the money, it more about work ethic.
If not doing something you agreed to do and getting paid for it is “PC”…then fuck PC tbh.
What kind of world would we live in if someone can just walk off a job because he’s in his feelings?
Cena gets a pass for me because he’s gone Hollywood already and WWE needs him more than he needs WWE right now.
HBK didn’t come back for how long until they put 7 figures in front of him for this and probably Mania as well because they’ll have cash left to burn from these Saudi shows? There is no way HBK decided all of a sudden now was the time to come back and he wanted to make the return in front of an audience that 50% won’t know who he is because they weren’t watching WWE in the 90s
HBK is absolutely doing this for the pay day. Sometimes it’s just an offer too good to refuse.
Saudi Arabia has historically been one of America’s best allies in the region and provides a powerful foe to Iran in the region which keeps the entire Middle East from even further chaos. There’s so much history here being glossed over for the sake of simplifying the argument. It does surprise me that performers didn’t balk at the first show. And that the fact this isn’t the first time something shady and human rights related there just ppl don’t seem informed until now