4 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 14)

1. Look! A Billboard! Progress! Influence The World!

Uggh. As if the social media campaign with WWE personalities talking about a billboard in Saudi Arabia as if that represents true progress was bad enough, we got more of it Monday night from the announcers.

They showed the billboard in Jeddah of Lita and Becky Lynch for Elimination Chamber and noted how they’re “making history” because it’s the first time two female WWE wrestlers have been on a billboard. They made a huge deal of how this is happening right now, not in the future, and that it’s evidence that WWE is influencing the world.

Let’s lay the cards on the table here: WWE isn’t doing this for some higher purpose or to advance western ideals and bring equality to Saudi Arabia. They are being paid $50 million by the Saudi government per show, which is more than the most profitable WrestleMania.

In return, the Saudi government gets to tout the programming – and graciously allowing women to perform in oversized T-shirts – as a sign of the progress a nation with an abysmal human rights record is making. It’s sportswashing, plain and simple.

This isn’t meant to say that WWE is wrong for taking the money and putting on the show – that’s up to each fan to make that determination for themselves – but to try to act noble about it and wilfully allow yourself to be a tool of a foreign government, that’s just inexcusable.