The Disturbing Truth Behind WWE Super ShowDown

Xavier Woods Sami Zayn
WWE.com

All Elite Wrestling’s mission statement is to Change The World of professional wrestling. Onscreen, this manifests, hopefully, as a diverse, meaningful, and less restricted in-ring product. Offscreen, the promotion’s drive of sensory inclusion and talent recruitment from minimised societal groups has, so far, reinforced the marketing.

But WWE has already changed the world!

So sayeth JBL. Speaking to Fox in October of 2018, in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, JBL expressed his support of WWE’s decision to proceed with the Crown Jewel show. “You isolate that country, all you do is impoverish that country,” he said of Saudi Arabia, the world’s 12th-richest country, a country boasting endless cash reserves and the bountiful oil so desired by the U.S.. You isolate that country, and that country instead pays a political adversary to produce its atrocity facilitators.

JBL, using Tribute To The Troops and the post-9/11 SmackDown as examples, claimed that “WWE has been at the forefront of change, and you wanna change Saudi Arabia, you send something like WWE there.”

Problem solved!

Sami Zayn is unable to appear at Super ShowDown due to his Syrian ancestry? Why, just book an Ethnic Tolerance On A Pole match, and have him win! Saudi Arabia: changed! Does even the sight of a woman, in still image, upset the regime? No matter: if WWE promotes enough pay-per-views in Jeddah, perhaps the ultra-conservative regime will thaw in their stance, and come to realise that, much like in the motion picture ‘Footloose’, everybody deserves to dance once in a while!

CONT'D...(3 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!