WWE is in the midst of its Women’s Revolution – spotlighting and celebrating current Superstars on NXT, SmackDown, and Raw. There’s still plenty of work to be done before the women can say they are truly equal to its men’s division but glass is being smashed almost monthly now.
That’s why it’s puzzling when WWE promotes its next biggest international show, yet fails to include any women on the card.
WWE is in the middle of promoting “The Greatest Royal Rumble” event at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, April 27.
When press inquired about women’s matches for the show WWE released this statement: “Female Superstars will not perform at the show. Female fans will attend. In addition, I assume you’re familiar with/have seen articles about the country’s Vision 2030.”
Several other writers and journalists have corroborated this response:
I did email WWE today asking them if women could attend the matches, whether WWE was sending any female superstars and whether WWE would be holding more than annual events in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We'll see if they respond. https://t.co/qHdtzUloOz
— Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) March 19, 2018
WWE did finally respond to me yesterday (after some prompting):
"Hi –
Female Superstars will not perform at the show.
Female fans will attend.
In addition, I assume you’re familiar with/have seen articles about the country’s Vision 2030."— Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) March 26, 2018
FWIW – @davidbix received a similar response yesterday from WWE.https://t.co/8uor5G4zZv pic.twitter.com/xmVZ7yTI50
— Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) March 26, 2018
Would love to know the money WWE is making from their Greatest Royal Rumble event. The whole “no women’s matches” is completely counter to what they are doing with the division and sours the whole event for me.
— Joshua Gagnon (WrestlingInc.com) (@HeelDoors) March 26, 2018
Women won’t be competing in Saudi Arabia because of strict culture norms that still segregate women from the men. Females were barred from watching sporting events in Saudi Arabia until a decision was made last October to allow women into stadiums.
This decision to cut women entirely has lead to fans shouting hypocrisy at the company for boasting progress but at the same time throwing its morals away in favor of a fat bottom line.
WWE claiming they have an "unwavering commitment to their women" while running shows in a country with such poor standards of women's rights like Saudi Arabia seems weird
— Cherry Coke is trash (@luke_blishop) March 19, 2018
The @WWE will debut the documentary Empowered the same week it announces the card for event in Saudi Arabia, where no women will compete and the will be no women in the audience. @StephMcMahon #Hypocrisy
— paul heather (@torsport) March 19, 2018
and Reddit user I_Am_Dynamite6317 said in a thread about this, “This show is a really perfect example of how phony corporate branding/philanthropy is. And I’m not singling out WWE, its across the board. They will gladly, gladly hype up the “women’s revolution” and how they are on the cutting edge of women in sports and how they are a part of the larger cultural revolution for women’s rights and equality. They’ll brag about going to Abu Dhabi and the fans chanting “this is hope” and how they can help bring about change in other countries and blah blah blah. But if there’s money to be made, they’ll go do a huge show, a hugely promoted show, in a huge arena, where they can’t even have women on the show. In a country where the women’s rights record is so abysmal that their female talent can’t even appear.”
WWE recently celebrated making progress in the Middle East and made history in Abu Dhabi by featuring Sasha Banks vs Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship.
And WWE signed Shadia Bseiso in October of 2017.
However, despite championing its women, WWE will host events in Saudi Arabia, after finalising a ten-year agreement with the country’s General Sports Authority (GSA).
It remains to be seen if women will make history there during future shows or how WWE will justify side-stepping the “women’s revolution” with this move.
What do you think about this situation? Sound off in the comments below.
