Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel? + More on Cain Velasquez Deal

Fury vs. Strowman?

Both MMA fighter Cain Velasquez and boxer Tyson Fury were part of angles on SmackDown this past Friday, which were reportedly done to set up future matches against Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman, respectively.

Velasquez vs. Lesnar will reportedly take place at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 31, airing in the afternoon in the US on the WWE Network.

And Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman may also take place at Crown Jewel. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, it isn’t official yet, but the “prevailing thought” is that the Fury vs. Strowman match will also probably happen at Crown Jewel.

Meltzer speculated that the people in charge in Saudi Arabia wanted Velasquez and Fury, who were top stars in their sports, and Saudi Arabia is paying a lot of money for the show, so WWE is giving them what they want.

More on Velasquez

Cain Velasquez said to ESPN on Friday that he has not yet signed a contract with WWE and was also talking to AEW and NJPW. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, sources in WWE told Meltzer that Velasquez has signed a deal.

Meltzer also speculated that there is almost zero chance that WWE would put Velasquez in such a high profile angle without having him signed to a deal. It’s possible that Velasquez has only signed a one match deal for Saudi Arabia and not a longer contract, though.

WWE also reportedly pulled their offer to Velasquez at one point this past Monday because they were mad that news of a possible deal had leaked, according to Meltzer.

Velasquez will also be going in for knee surgery soon, Meltzer says, so it’s not clear if he’ll have the match against Lesnar then undergo surgery or if he’ll be around for longer.