Written by: Gene Cole, Opinions Editor
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is a prime example of entertainment being inherently political. Being historically right-wing, WWE has shown its fair share of racist slurs, transphobic promos, and villains defined entirely by their ethnicity, among countless other issues.
While these moments have been infuriating, they’ve certainly become rarer over the years, and many fans still enjoy WWE at its core. A much wider audience, along with the Internet as a place where they can speak, has allowed for much more thorough criticism, and the WWE does often listen.
This is especially evident by the greatly improved women’s division. Back in the 80s and 90s, female performers were exclusively for titillation for men, being hired exclusively on appearance and often featuring ‘bra and panty’ matches. This has shifted dramatically, as the division has had increasingly diverse body types, wrestling styles, and match types. Furthermore, they’ve been consistently advertised by WWE on the same level as the men’s division.
WWE’s programming certainly has problems, but it’s made monumental strides and is far from unwatchable.
Unfortunately though, this trait was abandoned over the course of Crown Jewel, a WWE pay-per-view held in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, following the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
WWE’s personal politics didn’t just influence Crown Jewel — they defined this event. WWE’s actions imply that they care infinitely more about the money they receive than the entertainment they provide, as they’ve disrespected nearly everyone involved with this show besides the country of Saudi Arabia.
Crown Jewel is the second pay-per-view of a 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia, who offered WWE $450 million to host regular televised events in the country. These shows are meant to promote Saudi Vision 2030, a promotional campaign intended to reduce Saudi Arabia’s economic dependence on oil and improve Saudi culture’s global reputation. However, as is especially evident in Saudi Arabia’s recent actions, their leadership is far from trustworthy in this campaign.
Ever since this deal was made back in April, much of the WWE audience has been avidly against these events. Part of this is because Saudi Arabia’s political reputation has always been concerning, but much of it was also due to Saudi’s condition that none of the women’s wrestlers were to be on the show — the Saudi Sports Authority even apologized for the inclusion of an ad featuring women during the first pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia back in April 2018.
WWE never directly acknowledged this, despite advertising and supporting its “women’s revolution.” This was the first of several subsequent act in ignoring its viewers and content in exchange for Saudi Arabia’s money.
Perhaps a better proof of audience disdain was in subsequent episodes of WWE’s programming, as monumental boos from the crowd followed any mention of Crown Jewel in several events. This was something that people were visibly infuriated by, and WWE continuing with it is nothing short of a disrespect to its audience.
The WWE fanbase is far from the only group of people who weren’t heard. Following the reveal of Khashoggi’s murder, multiple US senators also demanded the event be moved or cancelled, as the company would be going as a representative of America. Holding this event sends a horrible message that the US doesn’t care about Saudi’s actions or leadership, and that their money is simply more important than Khashoggi’s life. Much like the WWE audience, these senators deserve to have their voices heard better — after all, these are leaders of the country that contains most of their audience.
WWE’s inability to listen even extends to its own performers, many of whom refused to work the event. Most notably of these are John Cena and Daniel Bryan, who were originally scheduled for matches before being written out of the event in the week prior to Crown Jewel. They’re paid to provide entertainment, and are forced into an unfair position where their loyalty to the company has to come first.
WWE’s inability to listen is even reflected in the quality of the show itself. Several storyline decisions in this pay-per-view were massively unpopular, particularly a championship title reclaimed by the rarely present Brock Lesnar. Crown Jewel also included the return of Hulk Hogan as a host for the event, despite huge controversy around his inclusion in the WWE Hall of Fame after recordings of him using sexist language were released. People were already frustrated with this show in the first place, but making these unpopular story decisions feel like WWE was almost rubbing it in.
I would be lying if I said I could view the WWE the same after Crown Jewel. This event disrespects everyone: fans, WWE’s employees, US political figures, the fun of professional wrestling, and Jamal Khashoggi. Any one of these should’ve been a reason to cancel this event.
For me, watching WWE is a different experience now that we know just how little the company really cares about the people who watch it.
