A month on from the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, the WWE has gone ahead with its Crown Jewel event and the McMahon family have a lot to answer for.
When the WWE signed its lucrative 10-year deal with the Saudi Arabian administration back in March, they received near-universal condemnation from across the wrestling community.
The ongoing war in Yemen and the country’s horrific human rights record apparently wasn’t enough for a multi-billion-dollar company to put principle over profits. Water may not run in the desert, but oil certainly does.
April’s Greatest Royal Rumble was expected to make a reported 45 million dollars annually, in exchange for WWE hosting shows in the Arab Nation over the next decade.
Between matches, the audience was treated to video packages of how progressive Saudi Arabia was becoming, to encourage tourism.
The videos applauded the nation for finally allowing women to drive, whilst conveniently neglecting the ongoing imprisonment of the feminists who pushed for this reform to happen.
Seemingly the WWE had gotten away with murder as the event went ahead with minimal controversy in retrospective.
Things took a turn recently when the Saudi administration stands accused of a literal attempt to get away with murder, with the administrations’ alleged involvement in the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.
A month on and the WWE has gone ahead with its second event, Crown Jewel. Throughout the show it made no reference to Saudi Arabia, simply stating it was in Riyadh.
It didn’t promote Saudi Arabia as a tourist attraction much like with The Greatest Royal Rumble. However, to go ahead with the event in the nation at this time shows the company’s corrupt moral values.
Whilst credit must be given to John Cena and Daniel Bryan for boycotting the event, it is disappointing to see many of WWE’s top performers such as, Randy Orton, who said: “We need to go over there to make change.”
The WWE is a quintessentially American company, iconic around the world. To host such a large-scale event, one which they were willing to crown a new universal champion in Brock Lesnar, and end the eight-year long retirement of Shaun Michaels, puts a positive lens over a nation that has the critical eyes of the world on it.
The irony of the WWE to applaud itself for hosting its first all women’s Pay Per View, less than a week before it panders to a nation that won’t allow the company’s female wrestlers to perform is an embarrassment.
As if the company couldn’t dig themselves a deeper hole, wrestling icon, Hulk Hogan made his return as host of the event, despite his 2015 racism controversy that the WWE appears to have forgotten.
Ultimately that is the crux of the WWE’s attitude towards this issue, that people will forget. The Saudi government is relying on the international community to forget the Jamal Khashoggi incident.
The WWE hosting these events over the next 10 years is a spoke on the wheel as the Saudi administration rides on from this issue.
By Adam Ridgley