This past weekend (April 27th), the WWE held their Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. The show was the first televised wrestling event that permitted children and women to attend with the condition that they were accompanied by men.
Although the event excluded any female talents from competing, WWE’s ad promoting their dual branded PPVs, which features some of WWE’s female Superstars, aired during the event:
One day later, Saudi General Sports Authority released the following apology, translation courtesy of Reddit:
“The General Sport Authority would like to apologize to the viewers and attendees of last night’s WWE event that took place in Jeddah, over the indecent scene involving women that appeared as an ad before a segment. It would like to confirm it’s total disapproval of this, in the shadow of its commitment to eliminate anything that goes against the communities values.
The authority has made sure to ban showing of any segment that involves women wrestling or any scenes related to it, and stipulated that to the company (WWE). The authority also disapproved any promotional stuff with pictures or videos showing women in an indecent way, and emphasized on commitment of this rule. And it’s a commitment that the authority would still commit to forever in all of it’s events and programs.”
Despite not making the trip, PWInsider reports that the WWE is have paid their female talent as if they worked the show.
According to The Riyadh Report, the WWE will return to Saudi Arabia for another show in November, this as part of a 10 year deal between the WWE and the Saudi government:
Exclusive:
Turki Al-Sheikh announces another major show for #WWE to be held in November and will be in the capital Of #Saudi Arabia #Riyadh
#????_?????_????? #WWEGRR #WWE pic.twitter.com/J1kTQBCfl4— Riyadh Report (@RiyadhReport) April 27, 2018
This outrageous statement by the Saudi Sports Authority comes several days after Triple H, Vice President of Live Events and Creative, issued a comment saying WWE wants to bring women over to compete in the future.
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