In an update on Daniel Bryan’s status for WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Friday, PWInsider reports that he will not be making the trip for the WWE Title match with AJ Styles.
Bryan reportedly made it clear to WWE officials that he would not be traveling to the Kingdom and WWE started to make alternative plans last week.
As of Monday, WWE was not planning on sending Styles to Saudi Arabia and production plans were being put into place that would have seen Styles vs. Bryan take place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The match would then air as a part of the Crown Jewel broadcast on Friday. However, that idea was dropped during production planning on Monday.
There’s no word yet on how they will handle the match now but we should know more after tonight’s SmackDown in Atlanta. WWE is advertising a segment with Styles and Bryan to promote the match.
It was also noted that Rusev was discussed as a possible opponent for Styles but there’s no word yet on if they will go in that direction. Officials have several options open to them and no final decision had been made as of Monday night.
As noted, WWE officially announced on RAW that John Cena is off the Crown Jewel event. Bobby Lashley is replacing him in the World Cup tournament.