By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)

WWE and Saudi Arabia - Crown Jewel Situation

October 26, 2018

The WWE reported their Q3 earnings and in their report they made the Saudi Arabia show official with the following statement:

WWE has operated in the Middle East for nearly 20 years and has developed a sizable and dedicated fan base. Considering the heinous crime committed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Company faced a very difficult decision as it relates to its event scheduled for November 2 in Riyadh. Similar to other U.S.-based companies who plan to continue operations in Saudi Arabia, the Company has decided to uphold its contractual obligations to the General Sports Authority and stage the event. Full year 2018 guidance is predicated on the staging of the Riyadh event as scheduled.

With the show officially moving forward, the notion of Daniel Bryan and John Cena protesting the show and refusing to work it. The Bryan and Cena news was confirmed by Pro Wrestling Sheet. Obviously, this had no bearing on whether or not the WWE was going to continue with the show, but it does say a lot about Cena and Bryan as well as what the WWE thinks of their superstar’s opinions.

The WWE spoke to Pro Wrestling Sheet and provided this bland…nothing…of a statement:

As always, we maintain an open line of communication with our performers and will address each situation accordingly.

Opinion

The WWE is a very strategic company, so whatever the next move is with Saudi Arabia, you hope it was done because it was the right thing to do and not just for PR sake. As the WWE continues to prepare their wrestlers with the canned response of “affecting change” in different cultures, you hope they see the irony in their statement and start to exude more compassion in their strategy going forward.

October 22, 2018

On the October 22nd episode of Monday Night Raw, Roman Reigns (aka Leati Joseph Anoaʻi) dropped the Universal Title due to Leukemia diagnosis and has left the company for an unknown amount of time. He will be focusing on his health and his family.

Because of this, Reigns was taken off of the match card, for the Crown Jewel’s WWE Universal Championship match. That match is now a Vacated Title Match between Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar.

October 19, 2018

As of the 19th, the WWE has yet to give us any real indication on their decision to stay or go, in regards to Saudi Arabia. I think its clear, that whatever the decision, there is going to be a show called “the Crown Jewel” taking place on the WWE Network. Whether or not the tickets are going to say “Saudi Arabia” on them is up in the air.

On Monday we, meaning we as observers of planet earth…not the Brothers of Discussion, received reports that the WWE was in fact leaving Saudi Arabia. This came from an unconfirmed source from a podcast that appeared to just want a “google” level scoop, opposed to doing actual journalism. I wanted trust this story at all and don’t trust anything until you hear it from the WWE.

That being said, the WWE has removed the mention of Saudi Arabia from its website for the time being. I would also assume that this is a precautionary step and a way to limit bad press. Its a good way to stop reminding people that you are going there and get your audience to think about something else.

Beyond that, there isn’t much else to report as the Sun just posted a “nothing to report yet” article on their website.

WrestleZone is reporting one of the on again/off again broadcasters for the WWE, Sam Roberts (more popular for his work on SiriusXM and wrestling podcasts) said he thinks the WWE should move their show. This is noteworthy since most people under contract with the WWE have kept their mouth shut or have regurgitated a company produced line about progress. If Roberts is speaking out, others might be next.

I’d say if anything was going to change with their plans, its going to happen in the next week. They probably couldn’t announce a cancellation right away, because they would have to figure out the logistics of making a venue change.

Beyond that, I think there is also the idea that even if they did go, most people wouldn’t care or would soon forget. I’m not saying that’s a good thing and I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t forget! But its just the nature of media and human beings. Either block it out of your mind or move onto the next thing.

October 11, 2018

Look, I realize why you follow us and it’s not to discuss world relations. But this current situation with Saudi Arabia is too close to home for the wrestling community to ignore.

With easily one of the biggest, public facing relationships with the Saudi Arabian government, the WWE now stands on the edge of a potential make or break decision. Something that we’ve hinted as something toeing the line, being morally imperfect and ethically ambiguous, has now taken a giant step over that said line. If this was football, the touchdown counts and the team celebration ensues.

With the BBC, CNN, NPR, The Washington Post and other highly respected news sources reporting evidence from Turkey, that Jamal Khashoggi  has indeed been murdered by those connected to the Crown Prince, it is nearing the time for a decision by the WWE. This decision is bigger than losing the loads of money that they’ll leave behind if they leave Saudi Arabia. Its bigger than just the loads of advertisers they’ll lose if they continue down this path. Its bigger than the loads of fans they’ll lose if they truly do not see the writing on the walls…and excuse the bluntness of this statement…or the red handed culprits.

If the Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Salman, is to blame for these acts of cowardice in the face of criticism…then there is decidedly no progress in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a “journalist” (teehee) I do have to reinforce the notion of “if” and the fact that there is no clear cut answer to whether or not the Crown Prince is connected, but it definitely doesn’t look good.

While the allegations about the cause for Khashoggi’s murder are still up in the air, others have come forward and told stories have caught fire again, on how the new regime in power is just more of the same. Now that these stories are rolling out, certain critics of the crown and potential victims have stood up and claimed their own heads being targeted. Khaled bin Farhan al-Saud, a Saudi prince living in exile (and reported by Al-Jazeera), was said to have been a target to “disappear him”.

And I’m sure we all remember the Saudi Arabian propaganda video that was played during the Greatest Royal Rumble, showing how progressive the nation had become, because women were now allowed to drive. Before that, however, reported by the Economist “In March a women’s-rights campaigner, Loujain al-Hathloul, was detained in Abu Dhabi, whisked to Saudi Arabia and, later, thrown in jail. In September a Saudi satirist based in London claimed that he was beaten by goons who had been sent from Saudi Arabia.” The smoke and mirrors of allowing women to drive was used to distract from the horror of jailing and attacking those who critiqued or asked questions to the Crown Prince and his regime.

All of these claims and allegations are adding up and it has led to several companies jumping out of Saudi Arabia, as reported by the Washington Post. Even if it is only for the time being, it is important for these companies to make this move in the wake of these allegations, because they are a sign of evil. While we expect to see more companies jumping ship in the next hours and days, will the WWE join them?

With that, the WWE did the very smallest action possible: the WWE has put out a statement saying “They are looking into the situation”.

But what the WWE has already done was questionable. We discussed this a couple of weeks ago with our piece on how the WWE is choosing Dollar signs over the respect of its talent and employees. This is in reference to the choice to work with Saudi Arabia and ignore half of their roster to do so. While the WWE is sure to gain notoriety for hosting an all woman Pay-Per-View, 5 days later they collect tens of millions of dollars to work in a country where women aren’t allowed to wrestle. While I did give high praise for this move initially, the continued work with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia means the WWE can have its cake and eat it too. Meaning receive praise for the women’s movement, while at the same time collecting millions to ignore it.

They aren’t the first company to do this, so its not saying too much or causing an uproar…because that’s considered normal. But maybe this is that opportunity to ‘right the ship’ and put those more important to your business first. If not…and more bad decisions are on the way…maybe its time we all consider different alternatives.

I think its important that we all educate ourselves on this matter, because we don’t want the WWE treating this like one of their bad story lines that they hope we forget. Keep googling, keep posting, keep tagging the WWE. Because they need to know that we see what's going on and we’re embarrassed to say we’re fans of this stuff. Having AJ Styles do a dance competition is one thing to get mad about…this is on a whole other level.

And please! Read the links I’ve posted to get the straight story from Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR, CNN, The Economist, The Washington Post. I can’t urge you enough, to take action and arm yourselves with knowledge! My blog is only a small sample of all of the great (and much better) work out there detailing this matter. I only googled these items and provided short blurbs on the articles written from those publications. My best advice is to follow Al Jazeera and NPR. Do not listen to our dumb President and for the love of all things holy…ignore Fox News and MSNBC!

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