WWE blasted by supporters after putting all titles on line for strict Saudi Arabia mega-show… apart from women’s belts
WWE has come under-fire after announcing more blockbuster bouts for The Greatest Royal Rumble event in history in Saudi Arabia – without any women’s matches.
The wrestling company is heading to the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah for the supershow on April 27.
They announced that a massive 50-man Rumble would be the extravaganza’s main event.
And today they whetted the appetite further by announcing a further seven championship matches.
But there were two omissions from the star-studded line-up – and fans were up in arms about the lack of a female touch to the card.
Neither the Raw or SmackDown Women’s title will be on the line in the Gulf State - where female sport participation in public is not allowed.
Up until last autumn, women were barred from watching sporting events.
And fans have now accused WWE of double standards despite the company and its hugely-talented female roster continuing to break down barriers for women’s wrestling.
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Twitter exploded with rage at the announcement as Vince McMahon and his fellow wrestling chiefs were blasted by people claiming they were trying to cash in at the expense of the women’s revolution.
User @bainalan05 wrote: “So there will be no women's wrestling at the so called Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. #WWE should tell Saudi Arabia to allow women's wrestling or they won't come. Gender equality before profit. It isn't 1974 anymore....”
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Another called @ShowtimeRHEC said: “Shame on @WWE for having this huge event in Saudi Arabia when they won't even allow women to perform there. How can you claim a ‘women's revolution’ and say they're equal to men yet perform the biggest non-US show of the year in a country that treats women like garbage.”
A user called @luke_blishop commented: “WWE claiming they have an ‘unwavering commitment to their women’ while running shows in a country with such poor standards of women's rights like Saudi Arabia seems weird.”
And @codycollier24 added: “You say you 'care about the women's division' but then you end up having a show in Saudi Arabia where they have laws AGAINST women.”
And they were not the only ones angry:
But not everybody slammed the decision, with @ButIAmRoxy defending WWE by replying: “WWE has shows all over the world. Just one show in Saudi Arabia does not mean they are against women or they don't care. Each country has its own culture.”
This is not the first time that WWE have faced similar issues to this and in December they made history as Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss became the first women wrestlers to perform in front of an audience at a WWE live event in Abu Dhabi.
During a previous WWE live event in the United Arab Emirates capital, women had not been permitted to compete, a stipulation that was changed this time.
And Banks spoke afterwards of how extremely supportive she felt that audience had been.
She said: "When I walked through the arena and the crowd and I had my entrance, I was very surprised at the reception. They don't really get women's matches over there and so when I spotted women in the crowd I was very surprised.
"The reactions and support I got was so empowering. Hopefully it opens the doors for many more opportunities for women in that country."
Females were barred from watching sporting events in Saudi Arabia until a decision was made last October to allow women into stadiums.
The country’s General Sports Authority made the move as part of Saudi’s latest slackening of the rules on gender segregation.
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The new “family” areas are still the only place females can sit – and they are separate from the rest of the male-only areas.
That followed on from the decision to allow women into the Riyadh stadium for national day celebrations and the historic lifting of a driving ban.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pushing a major drive to modernise Saudi society.
The reforms are in line with a wide-ranging plan announced by the 32-year-old to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent country.
WWE have been contacted for comment.
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