WWE And World Champions To Compete In Interpromotional Matches At Crown Jewel 2024
WWE world champions and WWE champions are set to compete in interpromotional matches in Saudi Arabia four weeks from now at WWE Crown Jewel 2024.
Triple H made the surprising announcement at WWE Bad Blood 2024 in the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. After announcing a record gate for the State Farm Arena, Triple H then announced an unprecedented pair of matches where all four world champions on the main roster (both mens and women) would compete against each other for a new championship.
The 50-karat title will be a ceremonial belt, and nobody's world championship will be on the line. The WWE Crown Jewel Championship will begin a new annual tradition at the Crown Jewel Premium Live Event.
As of this writing, the pair of world title matches would pit WWE Undisputed champion Cody Rhodes against WWE world champion GUNTHER. In the women's division, WWE women's champion Nia Jax is currently on pace to face WWE world champion Liv Morgan, though this could change to Rhea Ripley pending on the result of their match later on in the night.
WWE has a highly polarizing relationship with Saudi Arabia. While the partnership results in tens of millions of dollars in revenue for WWE in a single night, Saudi Arabia's controversial policies and human rights issues raise moral questions behind WWE's working relation with the kingdom. The height of the controversy came with the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate amid the writer's criticisms of the Saudi government. The incident led to outrage toward WWE, which decided to move forward with Crown Jewel 2018.
While any mention of Saudi pay-per-views continue to get booed in live arenas, the heat is nowhere near as intense as it once was. Tonight. Triple H's mention of Crown Jewel led to an awkward silence, but as soon as Paul Levesque made his historic announcement and revealed a shiny, new 50-karat belt, fans went wild. The segment was then big-footed by WWE world champion GUNTHER, who taunted Goldberg just weeks after trolling Bret Hart by saying Goldberg was his favorite wrestler.
GUNTHER's would-be showdown with Atlanta's Goldberg was promptly interrupted by a Sami Zayn attack, setting up for Sami Zayn vs. GUNTHER tomorrow night on Raw for the WWE World Championship.
Controversy aside, the world championship invitational is a good idea for an annual event, and similar to Survivor Series' Raw vs. SmackDown gimmick that gave wrestling fans classics such as Brock Lesnar vs. Bryan Danielson and Big E vs. Roman Reigns.
