Anytime WWE’s Saudi Arabia shows are brought up, it’s usually in a negative light. Whether it be the questionable morals behind the shows, Saudi Arabia’s shaky history with human rights, or the fact that Saudi shows used to be an excuse for the Crown Prince to play with real-life action figures, one can say quite a bit about WWE’s biannual tradition of heading to the Kingdom. In WWE’s upcoming journey to Saudi for the seventh annual Crown Jewel PLE, most of the focus has been on the Universal Champion vs. World Heavyweight Champion dream match between Cody Rhodes and Gunther.
Over the past few weeks, the newly introduced Crown Jewel Championship has been carried around in what looks like a military-grade case to and from the ring to put on display. However, lost in the shuffle of Cody vs. Gunther and the six-man Bloodline tag team match at Crown Jewel is the increasing development of not one but two women’s matches on the show, each with its own storyline.
To further discuss these storylines and matches and why they are so instrumental to the furthering of women’s wrestling around the world, but specifically in Saudi Arabia, we must turn the clock back to 2013 and discuss WWE’s decade-long and counting history with Saudi Arabia.
2014-2019: Zero Representation and Baby Steps
Before their 10-year deal in Saudi Arabia, signed in 2018, WWE announced in 2013 that they would begin hosting shows there. Sure enough, in 2014, the company ran three live events in the capital city of Riyadh, all of which happened on consecutive days and ended with crowd-pleasing babyface victories.
In 2015, WWE returned to the Kingdom for three more shows from October 8 to October 10, now in Jeddah. Then, in 2016, they returned to Riyadh for two shows on November 3 and November 4. That makes eight pre-contract live events for WWE in Saudi Arabia.
How many women’s matches were on these showed combined? Zero. That’s right, a big fat goose egg.
Before 2019, women were prohibited from performing in Saudi Arabia due to restrictions on women’s rights. This began to change as the Saudi government gradually relaxed these rules, particularly at sporting events. In 2017, women were permitted to attend WWE events if accompanied by a male guardian, reversing a previous ban that barred women from attending public events.
For WWE’s first three PLEs in Saudi Arabia—Greatest Royal Rumble, Crown Jewel 2018, and Super ShowDown 2019—women were absent from the lineup, as regulations still prevented them from wrestling. However, they were not completely absent, as a commercial featuring female wrestler Carmella in her ring gear aired during the first Saudi PLE, shocking attendees. The Saudi General Sports Authority issued an apology for the “indecent scene involving women,” stating that it had banned segments involving women and prohibited promotional materials with images or videos showing women “indecently.”
Despite this setback, further progress occurred at the next event, Crown Jewel 2018, where Renee Young provided commentary, reprising her usual role. Ahead of Super ShowDown 2019, rumors circulated that WWE aimed to hold a match between Natalya and Alexa Bliss, which would mark the first women’s match in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, the Saudi government did not approve this match after previously indicating that they would, which led to Natalya and Bliss being without plans after flying with WWE’s male talent to Saudi.
Nevertheless, on October 30, 2019, one day before WWE’s second Crown Jewel event, WWE announced that the first-ever women’s match in Saudi Arabia, featuring Natalya and Lacey Evans, had been approved. In the match, both wrestlers wore full bodysuits and T-shirts of their merchandise – a shift from their typical attire. Although the match itself was meager, it was hailed as a groundbreaking moment for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and WWE.
However, many were not convinced, labeling the match as a publicity stunt and part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to lure major sports events to position Saudi as more liberal and expand their economy away from being dependent on the oil industry as part of Vision 2030. Allegations of sportswashing followed, with many believing that Saudi Arabia was using WWE as a pawn to rebuild their image and shield their questionable human rights record.
None of this will be discussed here. However, we can discuss the eventual increase of women’s talent from one-off throwaway matches to main-event-worthy bouts with storylines.
2020-2023: Gradual Progress
Following Natalya vs. Lacey Evans at the first Crown Jewel, women became a constant growing presence on Saudi shows, eventually being given leeway to do more things they could do in the States or other overseas countries. Four months later, when WWE made their first trip to the Middle East in 2020, Saudi fans were treated to the first-ever women’s championship match in Saudi history, where Bayley retained her SmackDown Women’s Title against Naomi in a match that ran over eleven minutes, four minutes longer than the Natalya/Evans match on the previous show. Due to COVID-19, Saudi Arabia did not host a WWE show for almost the next 20 months, with their return coming in October 2021 with the third-ever Crown Jewel.
The progress continued when WWE returned to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel. This event featured the Queen’s Crown Tournament final, where Zelina Vega defeated Piper Niven (then known as Doudrop) to become Queen of the Ring. Additionally, the SmackDown Women’s Title match—a triple threat featuring Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Sasha Banks—was awarded the semi-main event slot. Lasting 19 minutes, it received a four-star rating from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, making it the second-highest-rated match on the PLE.
Elimination Chamber 2022 furthered this trend with several milestones: a Raw Women’s Title defense by Becky Lynch against Lita and, notably, the first Saudi Women’s Elimination Chamber match, which Bianca Belair won, setting her on a path to WrestleMania 38. Crown Jewel 2022 continued the momentum, with Belair’s four-and-a-quarter-star match against Bayley being the highest-rated Women’s match in Saudi Arabia. This event also saw the country’s first women’s title change, as Dakota Kai and IYO SKY (Damage CTRL) defeated Alexa Bliss and Asuka for the Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Night of Champions in 2023 held three women’s matches, a first for Saudi events. Here, Asuka’s victory over Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Title marked the first time a singles women’s championship changed hands in Saudi Arabia, underscoring the region’s ongoing shift in embracing women’s roles in wrestling.
Two more women’s matches followed at that year’s Crown Jewel event in November, with Rhea Ripley’s entrance for her WWE Women’s World Title Fatal-Five-Way match going viral and giving the women in Saudi their first viral moment since that Natalya vs. Lacey Evans match four years prior.
Rhea Ripley’s special entrance at #WWECrownJewel: pic.twitter.com/tSThsRW6QO
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) November 4, 2023
2024-Present: Storylines and Equality
2024 brought plenty of firsts for WWE in Saudi. The May 24, 2024, edition of SmackDown was taped in the Jeddah Super Dome, becoming the first weekly show taping in Saudi, where fans saw two more women’s matches, but that was not it for that weekend.
SmackDown was taped in Saudi Arabia that week because the 2024 King and Queen of the Ring PLE followed it the next day. On this night, live from the Jeddah Super Dome; fans were given a WWE Women’s Tag Team match between Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill and Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell on the Countdown show, becoming the first women’s Saudi match on a countdown show, but that was not it.
King and Queen of the Ring opened with Liv Morgan defeating Becky Lynch to win the WWE Women’s World Title, marking the second women’s singles title change in Saudi. Two matches later, Nia Jax defeated the upstart Lyra Valkyra to become the 2024 Queen of the Ring, which she used to become the Women’s Champion at that year’s SummerSlam, defeating Bayley.
The desire for throwaway title matches was out the window, and WWE was presenting their women in Saudi Arabia as equal to the men, no matter the location. Despite continuing to wrestle in full-body suits, the days of baggy T-shirts were over, and the women found new ways to make their attire stand out in ways that their original wrestling gear could not, like Becky Lynch’s Kill Bill-inspired attire from Night of Champions 2023.
Becky Lynch with the Kill Bill outfit 🔥 #WWENOC pic.twitter.com/pjNZmSeyoY
— Wrestling Pics & Clips (@WrestleClips) May 27, 2023
The Upcoming WWE Crown Jewel 2024 Event
This Saturday, WWE will return to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel 2024 in Riyadh, the seventh of its kind. This card will feature at least ten women, the second Saudi show to do so. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill will defend their Women’s Tag Team Titles in a Fatal-Four-Way tag match against Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, IYO SKY and Kairi Sane, and Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, better known as Meta-Four from NXT.
Additionally, in a first-of-its-kind, Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan will face the WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax in a Champion vs. Champion match for their own Crown Jewel Championship, becoming the first women’s Champion vs. Champion match to grace a Saudi PLE.
Adding to the storyline factor is the looming presence of the current Ms. Money in the Bank, Tiffany Stratton, who has the opportunity to cash in her contract and win one, both, or even all three titles if her heart desires. This would make it the first time a wrestler of any gender cashed in during a Champion vs. Champion match, providing multiple questions about what exactly she would win.
Women in WWE have come a long way over the past couple of decades, going from primarily eye candy in sub-5-minute filler matches to focal points of the shows, with multiple matches eclipsing 20 minutes and two world titles for both brands. As such, the initial poor treatment of women at WWE’s Saudi shows was not going to last very long, and over the years, women’s wrestling in Saudi Arabia has evolved from a throwaway match to title matches to Elimination Chamber matches to concrete storylines with possible never-before-seen outcomes.
Say what you want about WWE’s relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and you can say a lot, but you have to admit, showcasing the finest women’s talent in WWE is not a problem for them at all.
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