WWE Legend Defends Saudi Arabia WrestleMania Move
A former World Champion doesn’t understand the criticism being aimed at WWE.
On September 12, it was announced that WrestleMania 43 will be held in Saudi Arabia. The move marks the first time that WWE’s most prestigious event will be held outside of North America.
This quickly led to reports that several WWE legends will appear at the event, including Stone Cold Steve Austin. One report even suggested that talks involving The Rock are already underway and going well.
As noted in that report, The Rock would wrestle in the main event, landing the biggest talent pay-off for a single event in wrestling history in the process.
However, the deal to take WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia has also been met with significant criticism. This is often put down to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record, treatment of the LGBTQ community, allegations of sportswashing, and tension stemming from the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
JBL Supports WWE’s WrestleMania Decision
On the latest episode of Something to Wrestle With, JBL discussed the decision to hold WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia. He began by suggesting that any pushback from fans is “misguided.”
“I can’t judge motives. So I don’t know their motive for why they’re doing it… I don’t know if it’s a selfish motive, as, hey, I just want to be heard. I’m a spoiled brat, or if I really believe this, and that’s my voice speaking out.
So I don’t know where they’re coming from. I think it’s misguided. I don’t think, obviously, we’re not the moral police. And you say, Well, you can’t do business with this kind [of] country because of this, this, this, you can list that for pretty much any country, including ours, pretty easily. And so I get people want to have their voice heard. I 100% do not agree with that dissent at all.”
He went on to say that WWE has helped bring about change in the kingdom while pointing out that many would argue that the United States is far from perfect.
“When you had women over there for one of the first times in the Middle East countries, the fans, at one point, chanted, ‘This is change.’ And I think that’s important. I think it’s important to work with these countries… When you isolate these countries and don’t deal with them at all, it has shown historically that nothing changes, and all you do is impoverish an entire nation…
When you send something like WWE over to Saudi Arabia. I don’t want to overstate what an entertainment company is. I think that’s something that opens up the world. And you see that when you see these kids’ eyes, you see that when you hear the fans chanting, this has changed. You see that when you see women wrestling…
Are there a lot of things wrong? Yeah, 100% there are a lot of things wrong. A lot of things are wrong with our country, too. If you’re looking at our country from the outside in, if you’re the moral police, you might want to, not want to do business with us either. I think there’s reasons to do things, and I think what WWE is doing is good.”
The comments echo those made by Triple H who claimed WWE had made positive societal changes in Saudi Arabia since 2018.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co