Select Answers: Crown Jewel, Smackdown Brussels, Val Venis, Mercedes (Patreon)

Welcome to Select Answers, a feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

When aggregating these posts please refer to it as "Fightful Select Answers Q&A" and tag Fightful, noting that it was in the Q&A format to avoid confusion.

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Meltzer is reporting that WWE talent aren't allowed to back out of Crown Jewel and that it's being discouraged backstage. Is that true?

Well, he reported that no one asked to not go, which talent contacted us to tell us wasn't the case. There are a number who have expressed their concern, but still several that did ended up heading over there. I can't speak to who he talked to, but at least three people on the card spoke about it to us directly.

Hi Sean I’m going to SmackDown in Brussels in January and I’m wondering why are the tickets more expensive than for the tapings in the UK during the same Europe tour ?

Demand, from what I understand. Just a nature of it being more in demand than other shows. They also have a famously hot crowd for those shows.

How is former Intercontinental Champion Val Venis perceived backstage within WWE? What do your sources tell you? Have you heard any rumblings about a debuting El Grande Valbowski gimmick in AAA, complete with Mexican flag towel?

He isn't perceived backstage. Nobody has ever talked to me about him unless they're asking if his unhinged social media accounts that post about me are actually real or parody, because nobody can believe that a once successful wrestler actually posts stuff like that. I never hear him discussed.

Have you heard anything about contract talk between Mercedes Moné and AEW?

I don't think that she's near expiration at this point. I've heard really good things about their relationship thus far. I don't have the details on the expiration of her deal, but I would imagine with some of the time missed, there's a pretty good chance she has quite a bit left on that deal. AEW will definitely want to keep her.