New poster for the Saudi Arabia Rumble

[VaderBomb]

[KaiserGlider]

lol @ Wyatt being there.

[Hanley!]

What do you guys think of this, in all seriousness?

Should WWE be running this show? Does it change your perception of the company at all?

WWE are probably making a ton of money on this, which is why a random show in Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks after Wrestlemania looks like it could be larger in scale and in star power than Wrestlemania itself. So I can understand why they're doing it. But it's a bad look for the company.

They've been patting themselves furiously on the back for the last couple of years, because they're so proud that they treat their female wrestlers like real people now. But it's still no girls allowed for one of the biggest shows of the year. Finn Balor has a new T-shirt celebrating inclusion and the LGBT community, with a portion of sales being donated to GLAAD. But he won't be wearing this shirt for the Greatest Royal Rumble.

It couldn't be more obvious that every positive social move they make is a marketing gimmick and nothing more.

[VaderBomb]

What do you guys think of this, in all seriousness?

Should WWE be running this show? Does it change your perception of the company at all?

WWE are probably making a ton of money on this, which is why a random show in Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks after Wrestlemania looks like it could be larger in scale and in star power than Wrestlemania itself. So I can understand why they're doing it. But it's a bad look for the company.

They've been patting themselves furiously on the back for the last couple of years, because they're so proud that they treat their female wrestlers like real people now. But it's still no girls allowed for one of the biggest shows of the year. Finn Balor has a new T-shirt celebrating inclusion and the LGBT community, with a portion of sales being donated to GLAAD. But he won't be wearing this shirt for the Greatest Royal Rumble.

It couldn't be more obvious that every positive social move they make is a marketing gimmick and nothing more.

It's a giant step backwards when WWE hypes up themselves as being progressive and pull a stunt like this for the sake of petty capitalism. I'll still watch it on the network but I wouldn't have paid a cent to see it if the network wasn't a thing.

I believe that they should have put on another show the same week somewhere in Europe of Austrailia with an all female card. I assume WWE didn't because they theorize that it will gain them more attention aimed towards the men's show not allowing female talent to perform, which makes them look even worse.

[Hanley!]

I'm not subscribed to the Network anymore, but I don't think I would have watched this even if I was still a subscriber. Partially because I don't approve of the show, but also because it looks like ass.

The last thing the Royal Rumble needs is zero stakes and 20 extra people. Undertaker wrestling in a match is only ever a negative nowadays, and casket matches have a history of being crap. Lesnar and Reigns just had a shitty match at Wrestlemania and now they're going to be in a cage match; WWE haven't put on an entertaining cage match in over a decade. Based on the size of the card, this also looks like it's going to go too long.

The quality of this show is going to do nothing to redeem how shitty it is that they're running it in the first place.

[The Legend]

Honestly, I don't think it changes my perception of the company on the whole much if at all, and that's largely because when it comes to human decency and a progressive culture my perception of Vince McMahon and the WWE has never been very high to begin with. I mean Vince is who Vince is, he only cares about what makes him money and nothing else. When you look at the company's portrayal of race, gender or just about anything else the track record is extensive. Their charitable efforts are nothing more than PR and a tax deduction, when they highlight those things on television I simply fast forward.

I mean that's not to say that some positive steps have been taken, women are now performing serious matches that contend for match of the night on PPV's, they no longer are just eye candy that parade around in lingerie. Now, we can debate the motives for those changes, but the result is greater opportunity for their performers and better role models for their young fans, which are all good things. If they take a step away from that for one big pay day on one night, it's disappointing, but not at all unexpected.

[Everlong]

I think the fact that they're not only going through with this event but actually making it a massive deal is rather disgusting to be honest. It shows they'll do anything or sacrifice any values they have (or pretend to have) for a big paycheck.

I don't really expect Vince to have any kind of moral issues with this sort of thing given what we know about the guy and the fact that his wife is in Trump's cabinet, but you'd at least think other people would have maybe tried to push the fact that this makes the company look really bad.

Also, the reports that have been surfacing about Brock winning at WrestleMania just to have the title change happen in Saudi Arabia also are rather sick. The company was willing to have a shit-tier WM main event just to get a bigger pop in Saudi fucking Arabia.

[Hanley!]

I completely agree with John in that this hasn't changed my perception of the company, but only because I have a low opinion of them already. This doesn't surprise me at all, but I still don't like it.

[Messiah]

I hate that I actually have to take the other side of the coin, but probably over half of major corporations (and some of them that you love or support) are probably affiliated with other companies or viewpoints that are equally as morally corrupt. I think the NRA is terrible and they are supported by Apple and Amazon.

This is a 10-year deal that I'm sure the WWE will make (at least) a billion from. This is after they (presumably) lost money from McMahon having to invest in the XFL. Does it suck that they are doing business with this kind of country? Sure, yeah. But it comes with the territory of running a company. If you were running a business, you probably aren't going to turn a deal like that down because of morals. It would be nice if you did, but it wouldn't be expected of you. It isn't like the WWE supports Saudia Arabia's viewpoints, and who knows? By creating more exposure for their product there, which features a lot of women nowadays, they could do some good. And they had Sasha Banks wrestle in the first ever womens match in Adu Dhabi last year. Just because you do business with someone doesn't mean you agree with their laws or rules or views; it is almost always a financially driven decision for every company.

Netflix is available in Saudia Arabia. It's no different than what the WWE is doing - being available in Saudia Arabia. Should we cancel our Netflix subscriptions or consider them morally corrupt?

It sucks that it comes down to this, yeah, but I'll be honest and say it doesn't change how I feel at all.

[The Legend]

^^^ Netflix being available in Saudi Arabia isn't quite the same thing. I mean I don't think anyone is saying that the WWE Network shouldn't sell to people in Saudi Arabia.

[Hanley!]

I hate that I actually have to take the other side of the coin, but probably over half of major corporations (and some of them that you love or support) are probably affiliated with other companies or viewpoints that are equally as morally corrupt.

You're not wrong, but isn't that the corporate equivalent of "boys will be boys"?

Corporations are inherently lacking in morals, so the only way to encourage them to make moral choices is to call them out on this stuff. If enough people complain, their reputation is taking a hit, and sponsors are starting to get antsy, suddenly corporations can be a little less inclined towards corrupt practices.

There's too much money on the table here for WWE to walk away, I know that. Because their reputation already kinda sucks, and only seems to mean so much to them anyway. But I still want to see people speak out about this; to at least make it clear to them that they're doing a shitty thing.

I find the hypocrisy of it totally infuriating also. You just know they're going to be pushing their "women's evolution" the week before and the week after this event. I'm sorry, but they shouldn't get to pretend to be progressive when it comes to gender equality and also put on one of their biggest ever non-US shows in Saudi Arabia, where single women aren't even allowed into the building.

This is also the exact kind of show that fans from, for example, the UK have been wanting for years. Fans of both genders, all of whom would actually be allowed to attend such a show.

And they had Sasha Banks wrestle in the first ever womens match in Adu Dhabi last year.

They promoted it as the first ever women's match in Abu Dhabi, but TNA actually had a women's match over there seven years previously. This is a textbook example of how WWE has been treating their women's revolution from the beginning: patting themselves on the back for being progressive, whereas in reality they're only now beginning to catch up to where they should be.