Back دبليو دبليو إي في السعودية Arabic WWE na Arábia Saudita Portuguese WWE Crown Jewel Romanian WWE в Саудовской Аравии Russian WWE ở Ả Rập Saudi Vietnamese
| WWE in Saudi Arabia | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Promotions | WWE |
| Brands | Raw SmackDown |
| First event | April 2014 tour |
| Part of a series on |
| Professional wrestling |
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WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Stamford, Connecticut, has been promoting events in Saudi Arabia since 2014. After initially holding non-televised house shows, WWE announced a 10-year strategic partnership with the Ministry of Sport in 2018, which would see the hosting of pay-per-view (PPV) events in Saudi Arabia. In 2019, WWE announced it had "expanded" its partnership with the General Authority for Entertainment through 2027, under which it would hold two "large-scale events" in the country per-year.[1] These events have been held at venues in Riyadh or Jeddah.
The first event in the agreement was Greatest Royal Rumble—a one-off edition of WWE's annual Royal Rumble—on April 27, 2018. In November of that year, WWE held Crown Jewel, their second PPV in Saudi Arabia. From 2019, two PPVs were held in the country per-year, with one Super ShowDown event in the first half of the year, and Crown Jewel in late-October or early-November. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and WWE's suspension of touring, Crown Jewel was not held in 2020 and Super ShowDown was not held in 2021.[2] From 2022, Super ShowDown was replaced by events within WWE's existing PPV chronologies, including Elimination Chamber and Night of Champions.
The partnership has faced criticism over Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record (including suppression of women's and LGBT rights), allegations of sportswashing, and the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.[3][4][5][6] Some WWE performers have declined or were restricted from participating in the shows due to the government policies; members of WWE's women's division were barred from performing until Crown Jewel in 2019.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter named the partnership between WWE and Saudi Arabia the "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" in both 2018 and 2019, and named 2018's Crown Jewel and the 2019 and 2020 Super ShowDown events as those year's "Worst Major Wrestling Show".[7][8]
- ^ Currier, Joseph (November 4, 2019). "WWE announces 'expanded' partnership with Saudi Arabia". f4wonline.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- ^ Nason, Josh (July 26, 2021). "WWE returning to Saudi Arabia on October 21". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
- ^ "WWE: End Your Partnership With Saudi Arabia!". Code Pink. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Bixenspan, David (November 1, 2018). "Why Is WWE Creating Propaganda for Saudi Arabia?". The Nation. Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Martínez, Sebastián (February 27, 2020). "Super ShowDown: los fans amenazan con darse de baja de WWE Network - Reacción de Bill Goldberg". Solowrestling.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (March 5, 2020). "March 13, 2020 Observer Newsletter: 40th Annual Awards Issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ^ Harrington, Chris. "Wrestling Observer Awards (WON) 1980 - 2018 (and runner-ups)". indeedwrestling.com. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave. "March 1, 2021, Wrestling Observer Newsletter 2020 awards issue, Elimination Chamber". Figure4Weekly. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
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