How WWE MUST Respond To The Super ShowDown Disaster
That Dave Meltzer reported an "overwhelmingly negative backstage response" to the latest Saudi Arabian trip shouldn't be surprising, regardless of your opinion on the Wrestling Observer scribe.
Wrestlers have been rebelling against these shows since Crown Jewel. John Cena and Daniel Bryan refused to perform on that hilarious flop of a show, resulting in the latter's WWE Championship match with AJ Styles going down on weekly television instead. This time around, we had Sami Zayn being told to stay at home on account of his Syrian roots for the second time, Aleister Black banned for having tattoos with religious connotations, and Kevin Owens electing not to travel after his family raised concerns. It's safe to say the list will be even longer next time around.
On top of this, Ali cemented his real-life babyface credentials by donating his SSD earnings to charity, while Finn Balor made a statement by celebrating Pride Month in a country where LGBTQ people face severe legal challenges.
It sounds like WWE are actively going out of their way to poison their own locker-room in 2019. Things like adding six months to Luke Harper's contract and denying Sasha Banks' release, coupled with their apparent willingness to sacrifice morale for Saudi money, paint a dismal picture of a company that doesn't sound like it'd be much fun to work for.
The obvious solution to all these problems is, of course, to stop travelling to Saudi Arabia. That won't happen. WWE's 10-year deal with the country will see them pocket hundreds of millions of shiny coins, and a man who only sees dollar signs won't be walking away from that windfall...
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