WWE returning to Saudi Arabia in May

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

After their 10-year deal began with two controversy-filled shows, WWE is set to make their return to Saudi Arabia this May.

Fightful reported today that WWE's next show in Saudi Arabia will take place on Friday, May 3. Dave Meltzer has confirmed that WWE will be returning to Saudi Arabia in early May.

Meltzer reported in December that WWE has dates in Saudi Arabia booked for May and November of 2019.

When asked to confirm the date of the May show, WWE responded that they "haven't announced" it.

WWE's 10-year agreement with the Saudi General Sports Authority began with last April's Greatest Royal Rumble and continued with Crown Jewel in November. Women weren't allowed to wrestle at either show (though Renee Young was part of the commentary team for Crown Jewel), and WWE went on with Crown Jewel as scheduled despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's reported involvement in the planning of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

WWE didn't mention Saudi Arabia by name on the Crown Jewel broadcast.

[KILLdozer]

Since no-one else has said anything yet...

Sure! Why not! Let's go ahead with it and get the money! Hahahaha!

[cero2k]

Since no-one else has said anything yet...

Sure! Why not! Let's go ahead with it and get the money! Hahahaha!

it's proven than fans don't care, so yeah, go ahead and do it

[NWK2000]

I think WWE knows they fucked up with the Saudi deal. Shane McMahon won the World Cup and it was immediately dropped. Luckily the Saudi Prince is a mark for WWE 1996-1999 so as long as somebody who falls into that category wins, the Prince is happy.

[KILLdozer]

I think WWE knows they fucked up with the Saudi deal. Shane McMahon won the World Cup and it was immediately dropped. Luckily the Saudi Prince is a mark for WWE 1996-1999 so as long as somebody who falls into that category wins, the Prince is happy.

It was !NOT! "Immediately dropped". They haven't stopped talking about it since lol.

Oh yeah...you don't watch Sd do you ?

[XIV]

Announcing matches like Steve Blackman vs Val Venis, the Headbangers vs The New Age Outlaws and Jeff Jarrett vs Marc Mero for the Saudi Arabian Championship.

[NWK2000]

I think WWE knows they fucked up with the Saudi deal. Shane McMahon won the World Cup and it was immediately dropped. Luckily the Saudi Prince is a mark for WWE 1996-1999 so as long as somebody who falls into that category wins, the Prince is happy.

It was !NOT! "Immediately dropped". They haven't stopped talking about it since lol.

Oh yeah...you don't watch Sd do you ?

Didn't Shane cut a promo that was like, "I'm not the best in the world, I stepped in for an injured performer"? The fact that a guy cut a promo about not deserving a title won in a tournament, and then minimized his involvement, says something about how important those Saudi shows are to them

Also that set off the storyline between Miz and Shane, but it wasn't treated like other tournaments (say the early King of the Ring, where you got a shot at the title if you won). The fact that it was relegated to a storyline for an undercard belt (tag team titles) which will evolve into a match that certainly won't be main eventing Wrestlemania (Miz vs Shane), shows that they've relegated the happenings on those shows to have minimal-at-best impact on regular TV.

[Big Red Machine]

I think WWE knows they fucked up with the Saudi deal. Shane McMahon won the World Cup and it was immediately dropped. Luckily the Saudi Prince is a mark for WWE 1996-1999 so as long as somebody who falls into that category wins, the Prince is happy.

It was !NOT! "Immediately dropped". They haven't stopped talking about it since lol.

Oh yeah...you don't watch Sd do you ?

Didn't Shane cut a promo that was like, "I'm not the best in the world, I stepped in for an injured performer"? The fact that a guy cut a promo about not deserving a title won in a tournament, and then minimized his involvement, says something about how important those Saudi shows are to them

Also that set off the storyline between Miz and Shane, but it wasn't treated like other tournaments (say the early King of the Ring, where you got a shot at the title if you won). The fact that it was relegated to a storyline for an undercard belt (tag team titles) which will evolve into a match that certainly won't be main eventing Wrestlemania (Miz vs Shane), shows that they've relegated the happenings on those shows to have minimal-at-best impact on regular TV.

If I remember right, the Shane World Cup thing was supposed to combine with SD's massive loss at Survivor Series to lead to a Shane heel turn that got scrapped due to the panic over the low ratings.

[Big Red Machine]

As for the Saudi thing...
While I do think that WWE realizes that they have screwed up royally (pun very much intended), I think they still see a light at the end of the very long tunnel, which is as follows. As long as they 1) don't do propaganda pieces like they did on the first one, and 2) can keep getting slight concessions from the Saudis every time about who can do what, then if by the end of the deal if female lesbian Sonya Deville is wrestling on a show in Saudi Arabia, WWE can actually claim that they knew exactly what they were doing when they said that they were using their product to go over there and help create change but no one took them seriously. For that reason, I think they have reason to want to keep going and use whatever pressure they have to convince the prince to go along with at least some of it, because it's good PR for him, too.

[Bob-O]

Hopefully the bad press doesn't start up two months prior like last time... just in time for 'Mania...

The Prince hasn't murdered anyone in a while, hopefully he can hold off until after the show.