WWE RETURNS TO SAUDI ARABIA
Monday’s Raw will be the first time the show has been taped in Saudi Arabia with a second event in Riyadh this weekend. Earlier this year, SmackDown was taped in Jeddah before King and Queen of the Ring and appears to be the new format, although WWE has not disclosed if this comes with additional payment from the General Entertainment Authority.
The rise of Saudi Arabia’s influence in combat sports continues with a proliferation in boxing and mixed martial arts. Turki Alalshikh has become the central figure in this movement and was named by ESPN as the most influential figure in combat sports this year. Within the fan base, there are varying viewpoints ranging from indifference to concern over the politics of the region seeping into sports as cover for human rights abuses and broadcasts designed to project positivity of the region. In boxing, it feels that most understand the game being played but it’s a willing transaction in exchange for big fights and breaking down promotional barriers. In professional wrestling, the shows in Saudi Arabia are more normalized than in years past but there are still audible boos as recently as Paul Levesque’s unveiling of the Crown Jewel championship belts several weeks ago and when the King and Queen of the Ring ad aired at WrestleMania in April.
Part of the wrestling audience’s aversion to these shows is because WWE was so extremely brazen at the beginning of its ten-year relationship. While there were critics when the deal was first announced, it amplified after the Greatest Royal Rumble which was rife with political messaging and promotion of the country not to mention reckless disregard for the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran with an angle shot involving Shawn & Ariya Daivari as Iranian heels and led to death threats being issued. This was coupled with an apology by the General Sports Authority when an ad featuring female performers aired during the event during a time when women were not able to appear on the shows, a stance that was lifted beginning with Renee Paquette appearing on commentary and later, hosting female matches, which are now standard parts of the events.
The height of backlash toward WWE occurred later that year when the company dug in its heels and opted to go through with its Crown Jewel event in November – one month after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The juxtaposition to this stance was displayed by Ari Emanuel, who returned a $400 million investment from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder. Emanuel’s hardline stance has softened significantly in the years since, emphasized by UFC getting into business with the country and staging its first event earlier this year.
Most people are discouraged by these topics constantly being addressed and are not watching pro wrestling for a deep dive into geopolitics, but it’s an important exercise that you as a viewer are being subjected to that political messaging on these broadcasts. These are not traditional shows that are valued on tickets sold or usual business metrics, they are loss leaders from any traditional pro wrestling definition. The value of spending $50 million per show is the long-term value of presenting Saudi Arabia as a hotbed for entertainment and sports and shedding its image of human rights abuses and restrictions for a more favorable one projected to a mass audience, who prefers to enjoy the features of an iPhone rather than going through the assembly process.
Placing these shows under such a strong microscope is not a means to discourage WWE from taking its product to wherever it chooses, nor the fanbase in Saudi Arabia that has every right to have this form of entertainment. But, when asking why these huge events are taking place in Saudi Arabia at such exorbitant fees, you have to answer the question truthfully and explain what these shows are and why the GEA is spending so much to reach this audience. It is well and good to project a message of instilling change, exporting its product to a global audience, and other virtuous reasoning but you must also accompany those facts with the clear understanding WWE is being heavily compensated for carrying out that messaging and without a government contract, these shows are not happening, at least nowhere near this capacity.
As sports continue to reap the benefits of the Public Investment Fund, the dissenting voices will no doubt, get quieter and quieter. Recently, journalist Oliver Brown of The Telegraph found himself turned away at the door at Wembley Stadium following a critical piece he wrote in advance of Anthony Joshua’s fight with Daniel Dubois.
It’s a clear message that Saudi Arabia wants a positive image projected in exchange for its investment in these events. While Oliver Brown may have the backing to oppose this type of restriction, it’s a message to other reporters and journalists to stay away from this topic or risk being removed from covering these events. You would hope outlets would stand by their reporters in these situations, but one’s ability to cover an event without access makes them less valuable and becomes easier to steer clear of the politics of these shows and simply stay on message.
While there will be plenty saying they want politics out of sports, these types of shows and relationships make that impossible.
For more, listen to our recent chat with Karim Zidan of Sports Politika on Pollock & Thurston.
POST SCHEDULE
Saturday: WWE Crown Jewel with John Pollock & Wai Ting
Saturday: POST Puroresu
Saturday: Collision Course with Siino & Kate (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: MCU L8R with Rich Fann & WH Park – Agatha All Along Finale (POST Wrestling Café)
Monday: Rewind-A-Raw
Tuesday: NJPW Power Struggle with Karen Peterson & Bruce Lord (POST Wrestling Café)
The latest Rewind-A-Wai is available on the POST Wrestling Café with a review of the WWE Money in the Bank 2011 card. Wai Ting and I go through WWE’s version of the “Summer of Punk” from the promo in Las Vegas and buzz following it, his contract status, the atmosphere in Chicago, one of the best WWE matches of the era, and the follow-up after Punk’s win. Plus, Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan won the MITB Ladder matches, the story behind Bryan’s win and when it was decided, Christian regained the World Championship in the most anticlimactic way, and Mark Henry entered the best run of his career.
There is no Rewind-A-SmackDown tonight and instead, we will be back on Saturday with a show immediately following Crown Jewel at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET on the POST YouTube channel.
This month’s POST Puroresu with WH Park & Karen Peterson will be released later tonight, and Karen returns on Tuesday with Bruce Lord for a review of NJPW Power Struggle.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Wrestlenomics reported the quarter-hour figures for AEW Dynamite while airing against Game 5 of the World Series. The first quarter was the peak for the show in overall viewers with 708,000 viewers for Orange Cassidy’s promo and the start of Adam Cole vs. Buddy Matthews. However, the high point in the 18-49 demographic was the 11-minute overrun segment featuring the ending of Swerve Strickland vs. Shelton Benjamin and the arrival of Bobby Lashley. The overrun segment averaged 283,000 viewers (0.21) and increased the demo audience by 7%.
**Immediately following Crown Jewel, half the crew is off to Europe for a series of shows beginning Sunday in Dublin, Ireland before three shows in England with London, Nottingham, and Sheffield events.
**Due to the WWE crew in Saudi Arabia, tonight’s episode of SmackDown is a taped version from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The major segment involved Roman Reigns & The Usos coming together for their six-man match with The Bloodline at Crown Jewel on Saturday. Below are the matches that were taped:
*Cody Rhodes & Randy Orton vs. Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser
*Bayley & Naomi vs. Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell
*Non-Title Match: Liv Morgan vs. Tiffany Stratton
*Bianca Belair vs. IYO SKY vs. Lash Legend vs. Piper Niven
*Street Profits vs. Pretty Deadly
**Below are the matches for AEW Rampage tonight at 10 p.m. ET on TNT and taped this week in Cleveland:
*Komander vs. Lio Rush
*Top Flight & Action Andretti vs. Dark Order
*Leila Grey vs. Queen Aminata
*Taya Valkyrie vs. Zoey Lynn
*Rush, Dralistico & Beast Mortos vs. The Butcher, JD Drake & BEEF
**AEW Collision airs from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Saturday. This comes less than two weeks after Raw ran at the Wells Fargo Center and four days before NXT is at the 2300 Arena (although that’s a minimal capacity building). The last update from WrestleTix listed 2,700 tickets distributed, so they should be able to top 3,000 by show time. They did promote this show more aggressively than usual and have the following matches advertised:
*AEW Women’s Championship: Mariah May © vs. Anna Jay
*Day of the Dead Match: Thunder Rosa vs. Harley Cameron
*Kyle Fletcher vs. Komander
**New Japan’s Super Junior Tag League completes its round-robin portion on Saturday with the final B Block matches. It’s wide open with each team in the block holding four points entering the final day, and the winning team will face Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita at Power Struggle in the final. The final matches are KUSHDA & Kevin Knight vs. Rocky Romero & YOH, TJP & Francesco Akira vs. The DKC & Ninja Mack, and Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X vs. The Velocities. Saturday’s show streams late tonight at 1 a.m. ET on New Japan World.
**CMLL runs Arena Mexico as usual tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET and streaming on for its YouTube members and have announced the following:
*Esfinge, Místic &, Neón vs. Magia Blanca, Rugido & Volador Jr.
*Bárbaro Cavernario vs. Difunto, Barboza & Zelhua
*La Catalina, Tessa Blanchard & Kira vs. Reyna Isis, Zeuxis & Sanely
*Brillante Jr., Dulce Gardenia & Pelon Encapuchado vs. Okumura, Disturbio & Felino Jr.
*Galaxy, Shockercito & Último Dragóncito vs. Full Metal, Pequeño Polvora & Pierrothito
**The UFC returns to Canada on Saturday for the first time since UFC 297 in Toronto. The Fight Night card airs from Edmonton, Alberta at Rogers Place. It airs exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. and Sportsnet 360 in Canada.
MAIN CARD (8 p.m. ET on ESPN+)
*Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi
*Rose Namajunas vs. Erin Blanchfield
*Derrick Lewis vs. Jhonata Diniz
*Caio Machado vs. Brendson Ribeiro
*Marc-André Barriault vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
*Trevin Giles vs. Mike Malott
PRELIMINARY CARD (5 p.m. on ESPN+)
*Aiemann Zahabi vs. Pedro Munhoz
*Ariane da Silva vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
*Charles Jourdain vs. Victor Henry
*Jack Shore vs. Youssef Zalal
*Rodrigo Nascimento vs. Alexander Romanov
*Serhiy Sidey vs. Garrett Armfield
*Cody Gibson vs. Chad Anheliger
*Ivana Petrović vs. Jamey-Lyn Horth
***
REWIND-A-WAI #168: WWE Money in the Bank
John Pollock and Wai Ting discuss WWE Money In The Bank 2011 from Chicago, IL featuring John Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship.
***
REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Fright Night Dynamite with Swerve Strickland vs. Shelton Benjamin.
***
POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock & Brandon Thurston speak about the WWE ID with some exclusive details, a report on Vince McMahon’s next venture & lots more.
***
upNXT
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review WWE NXT featuring Nathan Frazer & AXIOM vs Je’Von Evans & Cedric Alexander for the NXT Tag Team Championship.
***
REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE Raw as Sami Zayn confronts Jey Uso about his reunion with his brother Jimmy.
***
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