Edge admits that he “wasn’t too keen” on going to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel

During an appearance on The Kids on the Escalator podcast, Edge talked about his feud with Seth Rollins leading up to the WWE Crown Jewel PPV event in Saudi Arabia…

“I had SummerSlam coming up with Seth, and Charles Robinson wasn’t going to be there. I’m at the stage of my career where I’m a little picky when it comes to who refs because there is a comfort level and you find a zone together. It’s one less thing as a talent that I have to concern myself with because I know that person is going to be there.

Charles wasn’t going to be at SummerSlam and I talked to him about Jess, ‘should we give her a shot because I’ve watched her and she’s good. Let’s see how she does.’ He thought it was a great idea. We took a test run at SummerSlam and she is so confident and really good. She wasn’t shy or timid, she took control of the situation and I always appreciate when someone does that.

We had MSG and I said, ‘I think you have to do part two, kiddo.’ When they asked me about blowing off the story in Saudi Arabia, I wasn’t too keen on going, I’ll be honest, but as we talked and they said ‘we need it there,’ I said, ‘Lets get Jess to ref there,’ not knowing if we’d be able to. I just loved the idea of a woman being in control of two men in that country.

If it flew over a lot of heads, whatever, but for me, I can come back to my girls one day and tell them ‘I went over there.’ I think we did something cool. She was right there for everything, not overwhelmed by the moment, and stood up to the challenge. It was really cool to see.” (quote courtesy of PostWrestling.com)