Paul "Triple H"Levesque made a new match for WWE's Crown Jewel premium live event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next Saturday on a pre-taped episode of "WWE SmackDown" from the Barclays Center in New York City. The show was taped hours in advance before airing Friday night so the company could also tape next week's episode of "SmackDown" before heading to Saudi Arabia.
Last week, Randy Orton tried to get "SmackDown"General Manager Nick Aldis to make him a match against Kevin Owens, but Aldis told "The Viper" it was above his pay grade. According to spoilers from PWInsider for Friday's show, Orton went down to the ring for a promo, but had words with Triple H in gorilla before heading out. He said he was doing everything he could to get to Owens, but Aldis wouldn't make the match. Orton called Triple H out to the ring, then called out his former Evolution stablemate and said that he was "protecting" Owens from Orton.
Triple H denied it, but initially said the match wouldn't be happening at Crown Jewel, because he was trying to protect Orton from "The Prizefighter," who isn't the same person who befriended Orton and Cody Rhodes right now. Triple H continued and said Orton had just gotten back from injury and he didn't want to see him back on the shelf. Orton said he didn't ask for the COO of the company, he wanted Triple H, and asked him to make the match as someone who knows what it was like to have their career taken away, according to PWInsider. Triple H considered it, then made the match official for Crown Jewel.
