John Cena and Daniel Bryan, two of the biggest crowd pullers in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) history, have officially pulled out of the much under-fire Crown Jewel event which is scheduled to take place Saudi Arabia in a few days’ time. The WWE has already announced Bobby Lashley and Samoa Joe as their respective replacements for the event.

The 16-time WWE Champion Cena was set to compete in the 8-man WWE World Cup tournament. The other competitors in the match were Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, and Rey Mysterio.

Originally billed as the match that will determine the ‘Best in the World’, it was speculated that Cena would emerge as the winner. However, with him pulling out of the event, it is Bobby Lashley who will be replacing him for Crown Jewel event.

On the other hand, Daniel Bryan has also decided to forfeit his match with AJ Styles at Crown Jewel and not be a part of the event. Bryan was booked to battle with WWE Champion AJ Styles; however, with him pulling out of the event too, the WWE has named AJ Styles has been named as his replacement.

The reason for both the WWE superstars to pull out of the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia happens to be the controversial death of Jamal Khashoggi – a Saudi journalist and a dissident – at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey.

A lot of pressure was mounted on WWE too, like other US-based companies, to shelve the event or at least postpone it. However, the WWE gave a green signal to the event only a few days ago, citing financial obligations as the prime reason.

WWE Crown Jewel will be the second live event the pro-wrestling company will be organised in Saudi Arabia this year. With the event date scheduled to be November 2, it will be interesting to see how the event finally unfolds!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 31, 2018 03:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).