With the stars scheduled to compete at WWE Crown Jewel having arrived in Saudi Arabia, changes to production will see names working remotely.

WWE Crown Jewel takes place on November 7 at ANB Arena (known as The Venue) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, having been moved from a purpose-built stadium in recent weeks.

Reports have emerged of changes to the production side of things, with a reduced team being brought over to facilitate the PLE:

A smaller venue requires less staff

Moving to a venue with a capacity of around 8,000, WWE fundamentally has less need to bring across the level of personnel it would need for a stadium show, regardless of where it’s happening in the world.

Still considered a PLE, and with major storylines building into what is set to take place in Riyadh, WWE obviously needs to have its stars in attendance, but that doesn’t extend to everyone who may be seen on screen.

The commentary team

Reports have been shared online that originated with PW Insider Elite, indicating that the commentary team for WWE Crown Jewel will not be in attendance at The Venue.

With WWE PLEs typically seeing Michael Cole and Corey Graves on commentary, it appears that the pair will deliver commentary from the Stamford, Connecticut headquarters.

Remote engineering

While a production team will be onsite, it is also being reported that “a significant portion of production for the show will be done from the United States.”

The report noted that production and satellite trucks will feed the show to Stamford, with a “major part” of the broadcast being remotely engineered from WWE headquarters.

Hazard Pay

According to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful, hazard pay had been offered to crew members ahead of WWE Crown Jewel.

The amount in question was not an insignificant sum, with WrestleVotes reporting $3,000 as the sum in question, although this wasn’t enough to sway some crew members who “opted out”.

It’s not been clarified whether the remote engineering of the production is a reaction to the lack of full production team, although it has been reported that a “sizeable” team will be present, with crew setting up cameras, sound and other equipment for the remote production.

Smooth production in unique circumstances

Satellite links have improved over the decades, although still occasionally suffer from momentary delays when it comes to live video and audio that WWE will no doubt have taken into consideration.

Beyond this, there are questions over the security, with many pain points intrinsically connected to the technology, from the broadcast van, to the satellite itself, through to delivery to the destination. It’s not just physical concerns, either, with bad actors able to disrupt transmission, be it through signal jamming or interception through increasingly sophisticated methods.