WWE SmackDown Live Results: Daniel Bryan Off Crown Jewel, Loses WWE Title Match As Turmoil Continues

Author: Alfred Konuwa / Source: Forbes

In yet another debilitating blow to WWE’s snake-bitten Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia, Daniel Bryan will not be working the event.

Daniel Bryan will not be working the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

After Robbie Fox of

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Originally scheduled to face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, WWE instead kicked off SmackDown Live with an impromptu WWE Championship match where Styles prevailed via submission. Both Styles and Bryan were attacked by a returning Samoa Joe following the match, and Joe will replace Bryan in a WWE Championship match at Crown Jewel come Friday.

Bryan was featured prominently at the Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE’s first trip to Saudi Arabia as part of a multi-million dollar agreement with the kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative. At the similarly scrutinized Jeddah event, Bryan lasted for one hour and 16 minutes in the titular 50-man match, breaking Rey Mysterio’s all-time Royal Rumble endurance record.

This time around, however, growing moral and political tensions plaguing Saudi Arabia may have been just too much for the SmackDown star.