Bobby Lashley Replaces John Cena In The WWE World Cup Tournament At Crown Jewel, Bracket Revealed

John Cena is officially off WWE Crown Jewel.

It was announced during Raw tonight that Cena is out of the WWE World Cup Tournament at Crown Jewel. Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin gave the spot to Lashley, who left Finn Balor laying after their match ended in a disqualification. Corbin said that Cena never qualified for the tournament to begin with, so he was taking him out.

Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports reported last week that both Cena and Daniel Bryan are refusing to work the show. Bryan’s status for the show remains to be seen. WWE is advertising a segment for tomorrow’s SmackDown where AJ Styles and Bryan will be in the same ring ahead of their WWE Championship Match at Crown Jewel.

WWE has drawn immense criticism about holding Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. WWE announced last week that they would continue on with their show after Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post who lived in Virginia, was murdered inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey by perpetrators who allegedly have ties to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

With the lineup for the tournament set after Lashley replaced Cena, WWE has revealed the bracket for Friday’s World Cup tournament.

Seth Rollins vs. Lashley and Kurt Angle vs. Dolph Ziggler will be taking place on the Raw side of the bracket. On the SmackDown side, Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz and Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton are set for the first round of the one-night tournament.

🏆 #WWEWorldCup ALERT 🏆@WWERollins vs. @fightbobby@RealKurtAngle vs. @HEELZiggler@JEFFHARDYBRAND vs. @mikethemiz@reymysterio vs. @RandyOrton#WWECrownJewel #RAW pic.twitter.com/cBaActXDr9

— WWE (@WWE) October 30, 2018

WWE has drawn immense criticism about holding Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. WWE announced last week that they would continue on with the show after Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post who lived in Virginia, was murdered inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey by perpetrators who allegedly have ties to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.