As expected, John Cena has been pulled from the WWE Crown Jewel pay-per-view event. Earlier this month, WWE announced that Cena would be featured in the World Cup tournament. It was noted that Cena would not have to qualify to be part in this tournament. Instead, he would be featured in the bracket of matches that takes place at this event.
Fast forward, WWE announced on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Charlotte, NC at the Spectrum Center on the USA Network that he would not be competing at this event. It was revealed that his replacement would be Bobby Lashley.Â
Although there’s no word yet on why he didn’t want to appear at this show, it’s been reported that WWE has known about Cena’s decision despite advertising him over the last few weeks.
8 superstars – 4 stars from Raw and 4 from SmackDown Live – will be part of this tournament. WWE has already announced that Bobby Lashley Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins & Dolph Ziggler will represent RAW while Rey Mysterio, The Miz, Randy Orton & Jeff Hardy will represent SmackDown.
WOW. @fightbobby just impressed @BaronCorbinWWE so much, he's qualified for the #WWEWorldCup tournament to determine the best in the world at #WWECrownJewel! #RAW pic.twitter.com/ulUFC9OBYD
— WWE (@WWE) October 30, 2018
WWE presents the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on November 2nd, 2018 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Saud University Stadium and will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming days. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE Crown Jewel Card
Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman – Vacant WWE Universal Title Match
WWE Champion AJ Styles  vs. Daniel Bryan
Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Kane & The Undertaker
World Cup Tournament: Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins & Dolph Ziggler will represent RAW while Rey Mysterio, The Miz, Randy Orton & Jeff Hardy will represent SmackDown
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar vs. The New Day
