Vince McMahon Was Never Going to Cancel Crown Jewel

Despite all of the controversy, Vince McMahon never planned on canceling Crown Jewel on his own. The only reason for any doubt about the show was the possibility that the US State Department was going to tell WWE that they couldn’t or shouldn’t go.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that was the expectation last week, with the feeling being that there was a less than 50% chance of the show happening and Vince McMahon expecting to be told that WWE shouldn’t go to Saudi Arabia.

However, the expectation was never that the show would be outright canceled, but instead that WWE would return to Saudi Arabia in a few weeks after the controversy over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi blew over.

There are nine years left on WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia, with the Saudi monarchy paying them $400 million to run propaganda-laden shows, and there was really no way that Vince McMahon was going to risk that over the death of one journalist. He signed the deal happily while Saudi Arabia was (and still is) mass murdering civilians and causing a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, and knowing their horrendous record on women’s rights, among an endless list of other “issues.” WWE’s expectation is probably that this will all blow over soon, and they’re probably right, maybe until the next Saudi show in a few months.