The Disturbing Truth Behind WWE Super ShowDown

Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

On the subject of equality, WWE’s Women’s division will not be represented at Super Show-Down. The women are not permitted to perform because they are women.

This isn’t hope.

All of this makes a total mockery of WWE’s transparent progressive PR initiatives. The Women’s Evolution is a joke, obviously. Ali, meanwhile, is presented as a symbol of WWE’s post-foreign menace era of ethnic characterisation. WWE hasn’t moved away from that; if anything, it has lunged carefree into a more harrowing, subverted version of it, one far more offensive than any fictional one-dimensional savage—one with disturbing, real-life repercussions.

The SGA has compromised WWE’s fictional universe. Even if Black gets over as a megastar, and draws a WrestleMania stadium crowd following a Royal Rumble win, his drawing power is dwarfed by the propaganda fee paid by the GSA. As revealed by Brandon Thurston on his essential Wrestlenomics Saudi exposé, Crown Jewel was worth more to WWE financially than the most lucrative WrestleMania event of all-time. From a ticket-selling entertainment promotion to an era of blood money coffers, this is what you call a paradigm shift.

Even conflating matters of entertainment with the most upsetting of realities buries the lede. The idea that ultra-conservative ideologies have now infiltrated the infrastructure of a nominally creative enterprise is bullsh*t enough.

The real stench is exponentially more foul.

CONT'D...(2 of 5)

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!