In case you missed it, Daniel Bryan has been removed from Friday’s WWE Crown Jewel event after refusing to attend the controversial event in Saudi Arabia. On this week’s Smackdown Live he was written off the show and replaced with Samoa Joe, who will instead face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at the pay-per-view.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bryan’s reasoning for staying away from the event apparently had very little to do with the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, or the fact that none of the female performers will be allowed to attend the event.
Shortly after returning to action this April, Bryan competed at the Greatest Royal Rumble event (also held in Saudi Arabia) like everyone else on the roster. At the time the stars were reportedly told that the show was a big deal, and did tons of media appearances while there, which isn’t unusual when they tour internationally. However, the issue on this tour was the amount of blatant propaganda the stars and WWE as a whole were obviously used in by the General Sports Authority.
The Observer‘s report also indicated that Bryan had a big problem with the way Saudi Arabia treats homosexuals (it is illegal, strictly enforced, and has been met with punishments ranging from public flogging to the death penalty) as well as the fact that Sami Zayn was not allowed to participate in the Greatest Royal Rumble tour because he is part Syrian.
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Bryan had actually asked to lose his match against The Miz at WWE Super Show-Down, which could indicate that he knew the WWE Championship match would take place in Saudi Arabia and he had already made up his mind at that point that he would not be attending. He ended up winning that match in about two minutes.