Report: Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan Are Not Going to WWE Super Showdown on June 7

The next WWE Network pay-per-view event is Super Showdown on Friday, June 7th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is the third WWE Network event that will take place in Saudi Arabia after WWE’s 10-year agreement with General Sports Authority in Saudi Arabia was announced last year.

At last year’s Crown Jewel event, big names like John Cena and Daniel Bryan informed WWE management that they didn’t want to compete at the November 2018 Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia. Part of the reason was due to the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other issues that exist in Saudi Arabia.

Going into Super Showdown, the question is, what superstars are going to refuse to go this year? We have learned of two pretty big names from the Smackdown roster that aren’t going.

Kevin Owens is not going to Saudi Arabia for Super Showdown according to Fightful.

It’s not known if KO’s reason is because of his own personal choice or because his close friend Sami Zayn is likely not going to compete at Super Showdown either. There were reports last year before the Greatest Royal Rumble event that Zayn wouldn’t be allowed in Saudi Arabia because has a Syrian background. Zayn was injured for Crown Jewel (so was Owens), so he wasn’t there.

Another name that will be missing Super Showdown is Daniel Bryan, according to Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer last night per Bryan’s request. Bryan, who is one half of the Smackdown Tag Team Champions (with Rowan), wasn’t on Smackdown this week. Bryan also refused to go to Crown Jewel last year although he did wrestle at the Greatest Royal Rumble and took a beating for over an hour in the 50-Man Royal Rumble match.

Bryan and Owens were both possible candidates to face Kofi Kingston for the WWE Title at Super Showdown. Instead of them, Dolph Ziggler returned on Smackdown and he’ll face Kingston. Ziggler was booked for the Australian Comic Con on the weekend of June 7th, but he was removed from that booking and replaced by Carmella.

Last year going into Crown Jewel, it was reported that Roman Reigns wasn’t going to go to Saudi Arabia. Reigns announced his leukemia diagnosis shortly before Crown Jewel, so that meant he wasn’t going anyway. This year, Reigns is booked against Shane McMahon at Super Showdown.

The trio of Owens, Bryan and likely Zayn are the only male main roster wrestlers that are sitting out Super Showdown for now. There could be more names skipping the show that we learn about in the near future.

TJR Thoughts: There’s not much WWE can do if wrestlers refuse to go. The ones that are going will be getting paid big money to be in the main matches because WWE’s deal with the Saudi Arabian General Sports Authority is for around $80 million per year for the two shows. It’s a cash grab for WWE, but it’s also upsetting for a lot of people. Bryan was not punished for missing Crown Jewel last year because he ended up winning WWE Title a few weeks later. I think WWE management knows that wrestlers are going to have issues with the Saudi Arabian shows, so there’s no need to punish anybody for missing it.

There will also be no women’s matches at Super Showdown as was the case during the last two WWE events in Saudi Arabia due to laws that exist in that country. That is something that pisses off fans and it should. There’s not much that can be done about it.