Reason for WWE’s major premium live event change revealed
The new era of WWE has been widely praised by fans, talent, and insiders as providing a better overall product. The renewed focus on improving premium live events is a major part of the overhaul. Triple H and his teams have put on several special PLEs in recent years, and now some controversial details are being revealed on how some of WWE's partners forced major changes to the lineup.
WWE booked the inaugural King and Queen of the Ring PLE for May 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, thirty-nine days after the announcement, the event was re-branded to Night of Champions. The PLE featured what was billed as a triple main event: Seth Rollins defeating AJ Styles to crown the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar defeating Cody Rhodes, plus Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeating Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa in the show-closer.
Backstage sources reported how officials did not have plans to re-schedule King and Queen of the Ring for later that year, but it could be used down the line. The PLE was finally held on May 25 of this year, featuring Nia Jax defeating Lyra Valkyria to become the second Queen of the Ring, and Gunther conquering Randy Orton to become the twenty-third King of the Ring.
WWE allegedly delayed the inaugural King and Queen of the Ring PLE by one year due to pressure from officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Matt Camp. The former WWE on-air personality discussed the changes on the latest episode of The Wrestling Matt.
"For whatever reason, [King and Queen of the Ring] it wasn’t 'big enough,' and instead we got Night of Champions, with Seth winning the world championship. I’m not gonna say that wasn’t the plan, but they definitely wanted to make it more, and that was, from what I was told, a Saudi insistence, if you will. Let’s call it that. So, we got AJ and Seth, the world title, and all that stuff. I don’t know if it was because of who was gonna be in [the tournaments] or whatever it was, but there was a pivot there. So, that has happened before," Camp said. [H/T - WrestleTalk]
WWE is returning to the Kingdom next month to crown the inaugural Men's and Women's Crown Jewel Champions. Camp wondered if the special titles were introduced because the Saudis had wanted the Crown Jewel PLE to be bigger for the past several years.
Top WWE stars now set for return to Saudi Arabia
World Wrestling Entertainment will return to Saudi Arabia in less than one month. Crown Jewel 2024 and the first-ever RAW from the Kingdom will take place on Saturday, November 2, and Sunday, November 3, at Mohammed Abdo Arena, Riyadh.
WWE will tape RAW the day after Crown Jewel, from the same venue. The taped episode will then air in its normal USA Network timeslot on Monday. The company is now advertising World Heavyweight Champion Gunther front-and-center on RAW promotional material, while Roman Reigns and Randy Orton were advertised in a press release.
In addition to the aforementioned superstars, along with WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax, Women's World Champion Liv Morgan, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, the following names are also advertised for Crown Jewel Weekend: Intercontinental Champion Jey Uso, Bron Breakker, CM Punk, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, Dominik Mysterio, and Bianca Belair.