WWE News: John Cena and Kurt Angle qualify for World Cup Tournament

What's the Story?

The WWE World Cup Tournament will take place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to crown the "Best in the World" and will feature two of WWE's biggest stars.

John Cena and Kurt Angle will return to the ring at WWE Crown Jewel to wrestle in the upcoming tournament.

In case you didn't know

Though the tournament was officially announced on the October 8 edition of Raw, the company issued a press release which referenced the tournament slightly - with the majority of the focus on the Universal Championship Match between Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar.

The heart of the matter

Cena was revealed as a tournament participant at the start of the show via a video segment and will probably not return to WWE programming until Crown Jewel.

There's only one @WWE Superstar who does NOT have to qualify for the #WWEWorldCup to determine the best in the world...and his name is @JohnCena! #RAW pic.twitter.com/TLSBjtTRAR

— WWE (@WWE) October 9, 2018

Angle's announcement as a tournament participant would occur much later in the show when Raw's Acting General Manager, Baron Corbin, booked himself in a battle royal to qualify for the World Cup.

Corbin filled the ring with local talent including El Conquistador and proceeded to eliminate every other wrestler in the ring, except El Conquistador.

After landing three German Suplexes and an Olympic Slam, El Conquistador eliminated Corbin and revealed himself to be the Olympic Gold Medalist himself.

It's TRUE, it's DAMN TRUE! @RealKurtAngle shocks @BaronCorbinWWE and has qualified for the #WWEWorldCup at #WWECrownJewel! #Raw pic.twitter.com/WrDGLZzGIB

— WWE (@WWE) October 9, 2018

Later on Twitter, Angle revealed that he was not back as General Manager and was only returning to compete at Crown Jewel.

I’m baaaaaack.... for WWE Crown Jewel. Other than that, I’m still on vacation, but it felt great to “stick it” to @BaronCorbinWWE pic.twitter.com/iqTHLILK8k

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) October 9, 2018

What's Next?

The tournament will have eight participants in total, but there doesn't appear to be any title opportunity attached to it at the moment.

With Angle and Cena thrown into the mix, the opportunities for unique matches could be endless.

However, given Saudi Arabia's desire for wrestlers from previous generations, there is a chance WWE could have mostly part-time wrestlers involved in the tournament, but that is purely speculation.