WWE Greatest Royal Rumble: Was it Worth Leaving Women Home? (Nope)

With WWE Greatest Royal Rumble in the books, let’s address the elephant in the room. Was the show worth ignoring the women’s division?

To kick off a ten year partnership, Saudi Arabia hosted WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27, 2018. The Saudi General Sports Authority and WWE are working together in support of Saudi Vision 2030, a social and economic reform initiative. On face value, with no additional information, it seems like a wonderful and noble idea. Who wouldn’t want to have a part in helping a society better itself?

Of course, there is more information available, and that particular information completely changes the situation. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, women have extremely limited rights compared not only to Saudi men, but even other women in neighboring countries. In 2016, the World Economic Forum ranked Saudi Arabia 141st out 144 nations in terms of gender equality. That’s, uh, terrible. And the sad part is Saudi women are actually somewhat better off today compared to even ten years ago.

Because of the status of Saudi women, WWE was obligated to leave its women superstars off the card. Not surprisingly, this sparked outrage among many fans, and for a variety of reasons. In one regard, acquiescing to such conditions for a substantial monetary reward could be seen as tacitly supporting the conditions. (Read: WWE got paid a butt ton of money to produce the show.) Another way of looking at it is that WWE is incredibly hypocritical — for years they’ve been pushing the “Women’s Revolution,” but at a moment’s notice that’s less important than cash.

Most depressingly, the Greatest Royal Rumble ended up being little more than Saudi propaganda. During the broadcast, the announcers were falling all over themselves praising the government officials they had dealt with. A video package extolling the positive environment in the nation aired during a break in the action. And even John Cena proved how “woke” he is with a cringe-worthy promo thanking everyone for “allowing him to participate in a show like this.”

If the event was stellar, it might leave less of a bad taste in the mouths of fans who wish for equality in the wrestling industry, myself included. It would still be icky, but if there were compelling reasons to watch it would be the slightest bit palatable.

But instead, a heavily promoted pay per view show was nothing more than a house show. Seven championship matches resulted in precisely zero title changes (with the exception of the vacant Raw Tag Team Championships going to the only Raw tag team competing in the match). AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura ended with a double count out. Honestly, the highlight of the whole show was Titus O’Neil ~~making it a win~~ falling flat on his face and sliding under the ring apron during his entrance in the Royal Rumble.

A friend of mine was trying to point out that knowing it was a house show, and thus existing outside of the normal programming cycle, made it more enjoyable. Well, more power to him, because I didn’t think house shows paid out $10 million a pop. Even as a lucrative vanity event, this was a damn pay per view! WWE, as a company, made a conscious choice to take money and participate in a show with a political agenda, while at the same time leaving an important segment of the roster stateside. And in exchange, the most “interesting” part of the show was a poorly thought out segment with Saudi wrestling prospects, the Daivari brothers, and an Iranian flag, because ongoing political conflict sells wrestling tickets!

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Look, I get it. This show wasn’t for me. It was for the Saudi audience, which includes a ton of young men and women pushing for change who deserve a chance to see their favorite superstars live. And I’m not so naïve to claim to be an expert on the region. I’m sure that, for some people, it’s a nice place to live and visit, and I’m sure it’s beautiful in places. There is some indication that things are getting better for women in the country, and you’d have to think WWE is smart enough to realize that they’re going to get some bad press from this show. That’s why Triple H tried to get out in front of it with his comments earlier in the week, I would assume.

But no matter how you slice it, this show absolutely did not warrant the gamble of leaving the likes of Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Ronda Rousey, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch at home. It doesn’t matter howe much money exchanged hands for this show, there was nothing remotely noteworthy about the Greatest Royal Rumble. There’s also no excuse in 2018 to air a special on both pay per view and the WWE Network and have it be no more than a standard set of dark matches.

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What do you think about the appeal of the Greatest Royal Rumble as pertains to the women’s divisions in WWE?

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