As reported yesterday, TKO executive Mark Shapiro held a Town Hall meeting with WWE employees on Wednesday where one of the main topics was upcoming events under the TKO umbrella, one of which is WWE Crown Jewel.

In audio of the meeting obtained by POSTWrestling, Shapiro, the TKO President and COO, told staff that there are "several goals we still need to accomplish and events that we need to be successful for us to close out 2026" adding that it "all gets wiped away to a certain degree if those events get canceled."

He added that despite the business pressures of wanting to move forward with Crown Jewel and other events in Saudi Arabia, the company would not hesitate to cancel them if there is escalating conflict that puts the staff in danger.

"We have a lot of investors and analysts out there across the Wall Street community that are nervous that we’ll be able to pull off the year without any of our events being canceled.”

"Well, so far we’ve been lucky enough to not have any interruption. Can’t guarantee that. And again, if it happens, it will certainly have an impact on our year in a very negative way. But there’s not much we can do about that."

"Of course, business is important, but humanity is most important. So this is more about keeping people safe and comfortable. The business is secondary. So, you know, I don’t want to talk out of both sides of my mouth here. We want to have the year we all envisioned. We’ve all worked hard for that year. 26 is shaping up to be that year."

"But if there is danger or further escalation of any of these conflicts that are going on, we will not hesitate to cancel those events. Damned be our budget, because our people come first. You have that commitment from us."