Cena was removed from the Saudi Arabia show last Monday night and his World Cup Tournament slot was filled in by RAW superstar Bobby Lashley.
There are still no confirmed reasons why The Champ will be absent on Friday at the King Saud University Stadium but rumours suggest he refused to travel to Riyadh amid the recent controversy surrounding the host nation.
WWE’s storyline reason behind this development is that Acting RAW General Manager Baron Corbin was impressed with the beatdown Lashley laid out on Finn Balor and felt he deserved to be in the World Cup more than the 16-time world champion, who got his spot without a qualifying match.
There was intense speculation suggesting that Bryan would be next to follow and it was all proven to be true last night on Smackdown.
The Leader of the YES Movement was scheduled to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Crown Jewel but the two wrestling legends had their title match last night instead.
Bryan ‘tweaked’ his knee during the bout and Styles capitalised by hitting him with the Styles Clash and locking him in the Calf Crusher until the challenger tapped out.
Following the bout, both men showed tremendous sportsmanship as they shook hands but then Samoa Joe carried out a sneak attack on them and locked in the devastating Coquina Clutch on the WWE Champion.
Bryan came to The Phenomenal One’s aid but Joe targeted his knee and then made him black out to the lethal submission hold as well.
WWE then replaced the four-time world champion with Joe, without much explanation, and so The Samoan Submission Machine will now resume his intense rivalry with Styles for the WWE Championship.
The wrestling giants advertised the match with the following statement: “In the wake of the surprise beatdown, SmackDown General Manager Paige honored Styles’ request that she once again put him into a ring with arguably his most bitter adversary.”
Vince McMahon’s promotion has been urged to cancel Crown Jewel by fans and US Senators who suggested WWE should reconsider their ongoing 10-year multi-million dollar relationship with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia following recent events.
The Saudi government have faced immense backlash after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.
Khashoggi was a US resident who went into self-imposed exile and had been an outspoken critic of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to BBC, Saudi Arabia initially insisted that the prominent journalist left the consulate in Turkey shortly after arriving to obtain an official document that would allow him to get married.
But the kingdom then admitted that he died inside the building following what they described as a “rogue operation” they had no knowledge of and promised to punish those responsible.
A Saudi official told Reuters that Khashoggi died following a fight that saw him being locked in a lethal chokehold after resisting attempts to have him come back to the country.
Turkish officials, though, claim they have audio and video evidence that prove the veteran columnist was tortured, killed and dismembered before his body was removed.
WWE initially responded by stating they were “monitoring the situation” but the Connecticut-based company ultimately decided to go ahead with the show.