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Yesterday, the WWE announced that at Crown Jewel, their second event this year to be held in Saudi Arabia, they will host their first ever World Cup tournament.
Details about the tournament are virtually non-existent at the moment, but it would seem that the matches will dominate a lot of the night's proceedings.
The WWE has a wide array of international stars at their disposal, and there is also every chance that they will pull in some old faces for the event as well.
Presuming that each country will be given one candidate and that eight countries will compete in the event, let's have a go at predicting all of the entrants for the tournament, and look at what countries are likely to be represented.
#8: Saudi Arabia: Mansoour
At the WWE's previous event in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, the company had several Saudi wrestlers take part in a segment with Ariya Daivari.
The company clearly wanted to push the fact that they were giving Saudi performers a chance in the WWE, and they will probably want to take that one step further and have one of them compete at Crown Jewel.
Having a local Saudi performer wrestler also gives the home crowd someone to rally behind in the tournament, and Mansoour proved to be one of the most popular acts in Jeddah.
While Mansoour is not likely to get very far in the tournament, this will still prove to be a nice gesture from the WWE, and will likely be met with a lot of gratitude from the crowd in attendance.
#7: Bulgaria: Rusev
Taking a look at the WWE roster, the company has a surprisingly low number of European wrestlers who aren't from England or Ireland.
Outside of Cesaro, who is Swiss, Rusev is the only other major star from another European country, and given that he is slightly more popular than Cesaro, he gets the nod here.
Rusev is also an expert at playing the foreign heel role, and he could be the perfect first-round opponent for a Saudi representative.
#6: Canada: Kevin Owens
Canadian wrestlers have a fine history in wrestling, and it seems unlikely that the WWE wouldn't want to have the country represented in their first ever World Cup.
While there are several options for the WWE to choose from, there is no name that jumps out quite as much as Kevin Owens.
Like Rusev, Owens is also an expert at playing a heelish role, and would also be the ideal candidate to take on a Saudi representative. Owens is a veteran at drawing heat, and having him involved in the tournament could really help get the crowd invested.
#5: UK: Pete Dunne
Surely there is no better candidate to represent my homeland than Pete Dunne? Dunne has been the WWE UK Champion for over a year now, and the Bruiserweight is comfortably one of the WWE's most capable in-ring performers.
While Dunne may not be as known to the wider audience as some other talents, he is an expert at working the crowd and is also an incredible story-teller in the ring. Long story short, if fans don't know who he is heading into the tournament, they certainly won't be forgetting his name after it.
Dunne has only worked with the main roster on a few occasions in the past, and seeing him square up against some of the company's bigger stars is a mouthwatering prospect.
#4: Japan: Shinsuke Nakamura
Outside of the USA, Japan is arguably the biggest wrestling territory in the whole world, and there is no chance that the WWE won't take the opportunity to have them enter into their first ever World Cup.
The WWE, however, is surprisingly short on Japanese male talent on their main roster, with current US champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, being their only main-roster representative.
Nakamura should also be considered a favourite for the tournament if he enters. With the former NJPW's star running out at the start of 2019, the WWE is likely going to want to convince him to re-sign with the company.
#3: India: Jinder Mahal
Despite actually being from Canada, the WWE loves to promote Jinder Mahal as their major Indian star, and he was the focal point of the company's attempt to gain ground in the Indian market last year.
With ties between India and Saudi Arabia being fairly good, the WWE will likely want to push Mahal quite strongly in the tournament, and while the former WWE champion has fallen down the pecking order in recent months, he definitely shouldn't be ruled out as a potential favourite to win the tournament.
#2: USA: Bobby Lashley
The WWE will want to pick a wrestler who represents everything that is great about the USA to represent the country in the World Cup, and there is arguably no better candidate than Bobby Lashley.
Lashley's history with the military and his squeaky clean babyface gimmick makes him the perfect candidate to represent the states in the tournament.
The WWE could even tie Lashley's ongoing feud with Kevin Owens into the tournament, with the two men meeting each other in the final.
#1: Mexico: Rey Mysterio
As they did with The Greatest Royal Rumble, the WWE is probably going to chuck a lot of cash at Crown Jewel, which means that we can expect to see several former stars lace up their boots at the event.
Negotiations between Rey Mysterio and the WWE have seemingly been going on forever, and the former World Heavyweight Champion has already made two appearances in the WWE this year, appearing in both of the company's royal rumble matches.
Mysterio is a crowd favourite, and his presence in the tournament is not only going to help sell the event in Saudi Arabia but also to casual WWE fans around the rest of the world.
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