Daniel Bryan has been removed from the scheduled Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia on Friday. The news was first reported by Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports. His absence from the show will be addressed on tonight’s Smackdown. The outlet has been reporting that both John Cena and Bryan were doubtful for the show for the last week.
Cena was officially removed from the event last night on Raw. Constable Corbin replaced him in the World Cup with Bobby Lashley, who just lost via DQ to Finn Balor.
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles at the WWE Performance Center?
WWE has been aware of Daniel Bryan’s unwillingness to participate in Crown Jewel since last week. According to a report at PWInsider, there were discussions for Daniel Bryan to wrestle WWE Champion AJ Styles at the Performance Center in Orlando and for that match to air during the crown Jewel broadcast. That plan never came to fruition.
Another scenario being discussed is for Bryan vs. Styles to take place at tonight’s SmackDown tapings. Rusev’s name has apparently been mentioned as a possible challenger for Styles at Crown Jewel.
Tonight’s episode of Smackdown takes place inside the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA. In addition to the Bryan and Styles segment, Shinsuke Nakamura will face Tye Dillinger with the United States title on the line.
