WWE Roundtable: Examining the Saudi Arabia situation

Tom: Is the solution to ostracize and isolate the country themselves? I don’t believe so. You can talk about white saviors and the like but the fact is that there has to be an example somewhere of the positive steps that Saudi Arabia can take to be accepted in the wider world and to stop taking such drastic actions against their own citizens.

If the governments of the world have chosen not to act, how can we blame WWE for openly stating that their intention is to go in with open arms and say ‘look, guys, this is how we do things and a lot of people are happy about it. Why not give it a try?’

Now, I can’t claim to be happy with a lot of WWE’s decision making, but are we blaming the company or individuals? I wasn’t happy to see Shawn Michaels come back the way he did, but I don’t blame WWE. Shawn Michaels could have turned down the money. So could The Undertaker.
But when it comes to women’s wrestling, progress – from WWE’s side at least – is already being made. Crown Jewel had a noticeable drop in propaganda and Renee Young was able to go to work as a positive, televised example.

Will women wrestle in Saudi Arabia any time soon? Who knows. That said, did anyone expect women to be wrestling in Abu Dhabi? For someone so in tandem with his president, Vince McMahon is at least choosing to do something.

Laura: I get what you’re saying, but I think a lot of it is contingent on the belief that WWE have anything but entirely cynical aims with this. They might talk about being cultural ambassadors but is that really what it’s about? Or is it all about the money? If both, which is their priority? I think intent is important here.

I’m sore on the women’s wrestling issue because WWE barely care about women’s wrestling in America beyond making occasional grand statements (I’d value continuity and consistency on a weekly basis over one PPV a year and a big Mania match) so I struggle to believe the women’s wrestling issue is that important to them.

It’s hard. I agree with you about ostracizing and isolating. Realistically, that only hurts the people, not the government, who are the arbiters of all the f*cked-up lawmaking. You are right, however, that our respective governments are basically complicit in Saudi war crimes and that’s a pretty big elephant in any room

Tom: Not adequately elephant-sized in my opinion

I’m naturally a bit cynical of WWE’s intentions. I think that’s a good place to be in general by and large and I’m a Brit so naturally I don’t even trust houseplants, but at the same time, I would hope that someone in WWE is on the ball here. The emergence of Triple H and Stephanie as real driving forces of the WWE agenda is something I welcome because they seem to by and large mean what they say. It’s not impossible to both make money and make progress, but I will agree that it’s not always the easy choice

Laura: [Laughs] I share your British cynicism.

I agree that Triple H & Steph seem a bit more switched on than Vince to say the least.