10 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactics For WWE In Saudi Arabia
1. The Show Must Go On... Even After Murder
Just a month before Crown Jewel 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist living in America, was brutally murdered and dismembered at the direction of the Saudi government. The killing led U.S. officials of both political parties to call on WWE to cancel the show.
In true WWE fashion, they trotted superstars out there to talk about how they still were planning to go forward with performing in Saudi Arabia for the crown prince despite global belief that Bin Salman ordered the hit on Khashoggi. Tickets went on sale the same day that the Saudi government confirmed Khashoggi’s death, leading WWE to pull the ticket sale from its website. They scrubbed any reference to Saudi Arabia in the hopes of whitewashing their sportswashing event.
Unfortunately for WWE, no amount of disinfectant or passage of time can wash away or memory hole this disgusting decision. At the very least, wrestlers like John Cena and Daniel Bryan refused to travel and compete at Crown Jewel, but the vast majority of superstars saddled up.
Perhaps the poetic justice here was that 2018’s Crown Jewel became regarded as one of WWE’s worst shows, not just because of this soulless choice to value the almighty dollar above all else, but because it was a really bad show. This PPV featured: the WWE World Cup tournament won by Shane McMahon; the return of Hulk Hogan from exile for his 2015 racist rant; a bizarre match where Brock Lesnar beat Braun Strowman in under 90 seconds; and the embarrassment of a tag match between the Brothers of Destruction and D-Generation X.
Jamal Khashoggi’s murder should have shocked the conscience of WWE brass to end its partnership with Saudi Arabia, but that would assume the company higher-ups possessed a conscience among them.
WWE has 500 million reasons to continue its relationship with the kingdom, and no oppression of women, planes being held hostage, or killing of American journalists will stop them from continuing to mask subpar shows with ridiculous gimmicks and tons of pyro.