Jonathan Coachman said this week that Kevin Owens is among the wrestlers frustrated with WWE's decision to go ahead with Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, according to Khel Now. Coachman made the comments on the YouTube show The Two Count Tuesday. Crown Jewel is scheduled for November 7 in Riyadh, and Owens has not been officially announced for any match on the show.
Coachman said a connection gave him names of wrestlers who are "backstage furious over this," and that Owens was one of them. "Correct. Kevin Owens was one of the names that was told to me yesterday. So I respect that he's saying something backstage," Coachman said. The claim comes from Coachman's own unnamed sources.
Dave Meltzer has described the company's position on the trip. Wrestling Inc reported on October 15 that Meltzer said WWE wants a united front on the event: "I heard that WWE wasn't thrilled that some of the employees, non-wrestlers, did actually talk about not wanting to go because they want that united front." That comment concerned non-wrestling employees, not Owens. Meltzer also said WWE will not publicly confirm a backup plan. "There is, but they can't publicly say it because if they publicly say it, it sounds like they're wavering on going," he said.
TKO held a town hall on October 28 where President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro told employees from WWE, UFC, Zuffa Boxing and On Location that safety was "paramount" for upcoming Middle East events, Fightful reported.
Owens is also set for a match against CM Punk that will be taped for the November 6 episode of SmackDown. Khel Now reported that the taping is November 2 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Co-host JDfromNY suggested on the show that the match was first planned for Crown Jewel and was moved because of wrestlers' reluctance to travel to Saudi Arabia. No reason for the booking has been announced.
Whether Owens will travel to Riyadh is not yet known. For now, he is not announced for Crown Jewel, and his match with Punk is set for the November 2 taping in Brooklyn.
