A Few Thoughts on WWE/Saudi Arabia

[Teemu]

I wasn't really watching, nor paying attention, when the WWE/Saudi deal was struck, so I kinda missed the whole thing as it started

But I've had some stuff to say and ask for a long time, and finally decided to voice my thoughts.

I get that the majority of the hatred has to do with the Saudi government, and that's understandable, not here to start a political discussion. But I'd be lying if I told you it doesn't sometimes bother me when the conversation around the Saudi deal has this low key racist tone to it. I don't mean here, this is by all means a quality place. What I mean is the sort of almost unspoken, but still loud and clear, insinuation that the fans that the get these shows - not the government, the fans - are somehow of less value than the western fans. When someone is over in Saudi, for instance, it's shrugged off as unimportant, it's just those Saudi fans. Sometimes it even gets outright hateful. Again, not here, but elsewhere in social media. As if it's wrong that the fans get these shows.

The thing that irks me is that this stuff flies a lot even in mediums where racism is clearly against the rules, but the rules are sometimes clearly lax when it comes to the people in Saudi Arabia. We don't agree with their government, and even their culture is counter to ours over here, and we have our disagreements, but the people in these shows are fans of professional wrestling, and they're also people. I don't like it when they're treated as less than when it comes to the commentary regarding these shows.

I just wanted to voice that somewhere. I hope that the disagreements, when it comes to this, which are voiced here have to do with the government of the country, and are not attacks on these people. People on this forum seem reasonable, though. Also, mods can lock this if this is too political or controversial, or whatever.

I just see it so much, and it's frustrating how these extremely thinly veiled racist comments can fly in some places when it comes to this one issue.

Okay, I'm off my soap box. I have just have some history with people from this part of the world, and I hate seeing them constantly misrepresented without people batting an eye. Sorry if this was cringe.

[Feyrhausen]

I have never seen anything racist about the Saudi people. The stance I have seen most is that the Saudi people absolutely deserve a show. The problem is with WWE accepting massive amounts of money from the govt to provide propaganda. WWE could be booking a tour and selling tickets but instead they take money from a dictatorship.

[Feargus McReddit]

I'll say what I have always said concerning the fans who are in Saudi Arabia; It isn't like WWE haven't been performing in front of them before. Heck, between 2013-2018, WWE were doing regular Middle Eastern tours. John Cena hit an AA to Kane through a table near the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which they made a big deal about afterwards.

Any business that wants to do business in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the Middle East, that's cool. You as a company are paying money for the venue, travelling with your talent, doing promotion etc. Now, there are other topics about sanctions and geopolitical stuff that I won't get into because that makes it complicated but ignoring all of that (as understandably hard that is to do), that's my view.

That isn't what's happening, which is very much my issue. It's also not fair for the people of Saudi Arabia to be roped into it since their only "guilt" is living in the country itself. It's why I don't fall into the whole "bash red states" thing because that's entirely too easy to do with everything we know about how America works (and this isn't an opening to discuss that, just using it as an example).

[Bo Rida]

I'm sure there's racism but many will dismiss something booked just for the Saudis not meaning the people attending but those running the show.
You'd have missed the context that those people are the ones requesting that WWE book Yokozuna or Ultimate Warrior. Or Jindar Mahal being the worst WWE champion in order to appeal to them... despite being a Canadian with Indian heritage. Or random sumo guy.

A short tweet dismissing something booked for the Saudis wouldn't go into the history like that. It's not used in the same context as the phrase would be for wwe hypothetically bringing back Mason Ryan to appeal to the Welsh.

Then there's the wider issue of sports washing, this is exactly what it's designed for, see those happy fans enjoying themselves, ignore those suffering for opposing the regime or being gay. They're pawns and it's a complex situation, look where Russian sports washing has led us.
Like you say it's those at the top of the Saudi government and WWE that deserve the hate.

[Feyrhausen]

May 5, 2022 10:58:01 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I'm sure there's racism but many will dismiss something booked just for the Saudis not meaning the people attending but those running the show.
You'd have missed the context that those people are the ones requesting that WWE book Yokozuna or Ultimate Warrior. Or Jindar Mahal being the worst WWE champion in order to appeal to them... despite being a Canadian with Indian heritage. Or random sumo guy.

A short tweet dismissing something booked for the Saudis wouldn't go into the history like that.

Then there's the wider issue of sports washing, this is exactly what it's designed for, see those happy fans enjoying themselves, ignore those suffering for opposing the regime or being gay. They're pawns and it's a complex situation, look where Russian sports washing has led us.
Like you say it's those at the top of the Saudi government and WWE that deserve the hate.

This. When people complain about "Booked for the Saudis" they are generally referring to the Saudi royals who dont care about wrestling and are not familiar with anything besides big names, many retired or dead. The Saudi people are more than likely more familiar with the current product and would like to see their current favorites.

[Final Countdown Jones]

I dunno, it's the internet. Someone in some corner of it is gonna be racist, that's unavoidable, but most of the talk of the actual Saudi citizens in the audience seems more like people going "Oh what so these people don't deserve a show because their government is bad?" than anyone critical of the shows talking about them.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Wrestling has a rich history of racism. As does... the world. There is always going to be racism in there in this kind of scenario.

But I haven't once encountered racism over these shows, because I finesse my Twitter feed very carefully and only talk about wrestling here.

[DrBackflipsHoffman]

if you think the fans don't give a shit about the Saudi people wait til you hear about WWE and the Saudi government

[avenger]

May 5, 2022 11:03:06 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

May 5, 2022 10:58:01 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I'm sure there's racism but many will dismiss something booked just for the Saudis not meaning the people attending but those running the show.
You'd have missed the context that those people are the ones requesting that WWE book Yokozuna or Ultimate Warrior. Or Jindar Mahal being the worst WWE champion in order to appeal to them... despite being a Canadian with Indian heritage. Or random sumo guy.

A short tweet dismissing something booked for the Saudis wouldn't go into the history like that.

Then there's the wider issue of sports washing, this is exactly what it's designed for, see those happy fans enjoying themselves, ignore those suffering for opposing the regime or being gay. They're pawns and it's a complex situation, look where Russian sports washing has led us.
Like you say it's those at the top of the Saudi government and WWE that deserve the hate.

This. When people complain about "Booked for the Saudis" they are generally referring to the Saudi royals who dont care about wrestling and are not familiar with anything besides big names, many retired or dead. The Saudi people are more than likely more familiar with the current product and would like to see their current favorites.

I've only seen the first Saudi show, but where the royals wanted Ultimate Warrior, Yokozuna and Randy Savage, the people that were over in the stadium, were the same people that were over wherever the WWE goes.

[welshpenguin]

The racism & Islamophobia gets extremely uncomfortable around the times of the shows. I have seen it everywhere, it’s not as bad here as other places but I have seen it.