WWE’s Original Crown Jewel Card Reportedly Featured Vision Six-Man Tag And GUNTHER vs. Finn Bálor
An update has emerged on WWE’s original Crown Jewel card.
Next weekend, November 7, WWE will travel to Riyadh for Crown Jewel. In what has become tradition for the event, viewers will see two champion vs. champion contests as Roman Reigns takes on Sami Zayn, while Chelsea Green faces Liv Morgan. Alongside that, Austin Theory and Bron Breakker of The Vision will look to successfully defend the World Tag Team Championships against Je’Von Evans and Penta, though it now appears that wasn’t the initial plan.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s believed The Vision, including Bronson Reed, were originally set to face Evans, Penta, and Oba Femi.
“We were also told that the original plan for the Vision match was a trios bout with Je’Von Evans & Penta & Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker & Austin Theory & Bronson Reed. The reason the match was changed was the feeling that it made no sense to do the six-man tag team without first doing the tag team title match.”
-Dave Meltzer
Also with regard to the original plans for Crown Jewel, it’s believed GUNTHER vs. Finn Bálor was originally part of the card, lining up with advertising featuring the two of them which has been spotted around the event.
“We do know that on the original lineup for the show, that Balor vs. Gunther was on it, so if it’s not happening, it was changed and the people working on the stadium in Saudi still had the old lineup.”
-Dave Meltzer
It’s worth noting that, with two episodes of SmackDown between now and Crown Jewel, a clash between GUNTHER and Finn Bálor could still be set up. For now, though, the show’s card sits at four matches, with a Last Man Standing match between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton completing the lineup.
Regardless of the planned card, circumstances around the show and its location have dominated the headlines of late. Elsewhere in the Observer, Meltzer noted WWE’s current approach when it comes to its talent potentially not wanting to travel to the event. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Crown Jewel as soon as we hear more.
