10 Best WWE Matches Held In Saudi Arabia So Far

"It's the most wonderful time, of the year..."

When continuity gets thrown out the window, meaningless accolades suddenly become the most sought-after prize in the company and f*cking Mansoor wins everything.

When Triple H puts on his boots again, Braun Strowman becomes a wrestling god and the women's revolution is essentially forgotten about.

It's that time when the main event is not. Allowed. To. Be. Good.

Are these shows necessary? No. Do they contribute ANYTHING meaningful to WWE programming? Nope. By allowing this partnership to continue despite the real-life events surrounding the countries involved, are WWE repairing their already-shattered public image? HELL no. But that doesn't mean there still can't be some damn good wrestling on these shows. Thanks to the in-ring dexterity of select members of the WWE roster, these shows have managed to contain flashes of brilliance that are unfortunately quickly overshadowed by the show as a hole, but nevertheless deserve recognition.

Without further ado, let's gather round the fireplace and look at some of the times the Saudi shows gave us some damn good wrestling.

As WWE approached their first show with the Saudis, fans were skeptical - it came at a time when WWE were reeling off of the Wrestlemania Women's Battle Royale naming controversy, and it didn't seem like their PR team would be able to withstand another hit. This show needed to be good, and it needed to please the right people. This was the perfect match to open with.

As expected of the two performers, they did a great job of firing up the crowd, pulling out their entire arsenals and making the WWE's first match in Saudi Arabia a success. The match was a whirlwind of counters, dives and some excellent selling from Alexander to make both men look like credible competitors for the Cruiserweight title. The pacing was perfect too, as both men managed to squeeze in just the right amount of offence for a 10 minute bout to warm the crowd up.

In short, it was some good flippy sh*t to kick off WWE's first Saudi show - it's a shame the rest of the card chose to imitate the match's insignificance rather than it's level of in-ring work.