14 Things You Should Know About WWE's Deal With Saudi Arabia

Read update

• Even amidst a lot of controversy and bad press, WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia is in its fifth year - halfway through the ten-year deal that was signed. In truth, much like many questionable decisions and with the power of sportswashing, the discourse and outrage for WWE in Saudi Arabia isn’t as big as it once was. Whether this is due to people just accepting that there will be no change or whether these events are actually growing on people is up for debate. There are plenty of things to know about WWE’s deal in Saudi Arabia.

WWE has been hosting large-scale events in Saudi Arabia since 2018, with The Greatest Royal Rumble being the inaugural event. Since then, the company has hosted several major events in the country.

RELATED: 10 Facts WWE Fans Should Know About Edge's Return

WWE received tons of criticism for associating itself with Saudi Arabia due to the country's political decisions and severe restrictions. But the company continues to host events in the country despite the controversies and criticisms and is making record profits as part of the deal.

UPDATE: 2023/10/24 07:30 EST BY ANDREW KELLY

Even amidst a lot of controversy and bad press, WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia is in its fifth year - halfway through the ten-year deal that was signed. In truth, much like many questionable decisions and with the power of sportswashing, the discourse and outrage for WWE in Saudi Arabia isn’t as big as it once was. Whether this is due to people just accepting that there will be no change or whether these events are actually growing on people is up for debate. There are plenty of things to know about WWE’s deal in Saudi Arabia.

14 On Halt Due To The Pandemic

WWE had to run shows in front of zero fans when the pandemic began, and touring was well and truly stopped. The 2020 Super ShowDown event was WWE’s last big show in Saudi Arabia before the pandemic hit, and it was the last until the world opened its doors again.

The usual Autumn-time show was canceled due to travel restrictions and the banning of mass gatherings, and it took until October 2021 for WWE to return to Saudi Arabia for the Crown Jewel show.

13 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic

As noted, people haven’t been overly enthralled with WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. The Wrestling Observer Awards are one of the biggest and most well-known yearly awards in the business, and they have given this partnership the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic award two times - in 2018 and 2019.

It was the first time this award had been given to the same thing twice! The wrestling world knows the negatives behind this deal, and this is clear evidence of that.

12 Saudi Arabia’s Vision

The relationship between WWE and Saudi Arabia was brought together to help with Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision. The country has been hosting a whole bunch of major events across the sports world, venturing into boxing, soccer, golf, and more.

This is in an attempt to boost their social and economic program across many different areas. Bringing in more diversity and major events is intended to grow the country and connect it to the rest of the world.

11 Controversial Promotional Video

Back at WWE’s first few Saudi Arabia events, women were not allowed to be at the show, let alone compete, and if they were shown they had to be dressed from head to toe and covered. WWE would air a video package which featured their regularly presented women’s wrestlers during the Greatest Royal Rumble broadcast.

This led to some heat, with the Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority issuing a statement in which they apologized for “indecent” images - those images being the female superstars in their typical ring gear.

10 WWE’s Work In The Country

Over the years, WWE and its superstars have done a lot of work for communities, emergency services, the military, charity, and more. This has been the same in Saudi Arabia.

Superstars have worked in schools and with charities in their visits to the Kingdom, with the hopes to improve social aspects in the country. WWE often airs videos of this during the lead-up to Saudi Arabia shows or during the events themselves.

9 WWE First Entered Saudi Arabia In 2014

Before signing the huge deal with the Saudi authorities, WWE first entered the country in 2014 and hosted a series of live events. WWE announced its plans to host live events in the country in December 2013 and held its first show in April 2014, which was a set of three house shows.

RELATED: 10 Things Fans Should Know About Sting's WWE Run

The company then returned to the country and hosted three events in 2015 and two events in 2016 before launching a new Arabic-language television program, WWE Wal3ooha, to target the MENA region. These measures planted the seeds for WWE to enter into a comprehensive agreement with Saudi Arabia which materialized in 2018.

8 It's The Result Of A 10-Year Partnership With The Saudi Ministry of Sport

Following the original tours, WWE started to get serious with their association with Saudi Arabia, and their relationship reached a new level when the company signed a strategic multi-platform partnership between WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority.

The length of the deal was for ten years, and The Greatest Royal Rumble PPV in 2018 was the first show to materialize out of this historic deal. WWE looks to honor its deal with the country and continue to host more large-scale events until 2027.

7 The Deal Is Worth $100 Million A Year

Despite the controversies and criticism the WWE faced with going ahead with the deal, the company stayed adamant in fulfilling the obligations due to the massive financial gain they would get.

The 10-year deal is reportedly worth around $100 Million a year, which comes to $50 Million for each show they hold in a year. With such massive financial implications, it is understandable why WWE continues its relationship with Saudi Arabia despite all the backlash they faced ever since signing the deal.

6 Restrictions On Female Superstars

Saudi Arabia has severe restrictions on their female population and has strict guidelines that they have to follow at all costs unless they want to face the consequences.

The same restrictions applied to the female superstars in WWE, and the company had to leave them out of the first three shows. WWE received lots of criticism for holding events without the women's division, and the Saudi Arabian authorities even rejected WWE's pitch to have Alexa Bliss and Natalya have a match at Super ShowDown 2019. However, the Saudi Officials allowed female wrestlers to compete in the country provided they wore in-ring gear that fully covered their bodies, and Natalya and Lacey Evans became the first women to compete in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel 2019. More women's wrestling has been seen at subsequent events and is now the norm.

5 Wrestlers Who Refused To Compete At The Events

Before the 2018 Crown Jewel event, Saudi Arabia received a lot of negative press over the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. It resulted in several wrestlers refusing to compete in the country due to the event. The list included the likes of Daniel Bryan and John Cena, and WWE had to make replacements for these superstars to go ahead with the events.

RELATED: 10 Things WWE Fans Should Know About Grayson Waller

Roman Reigns also refused to compete at Crown Jewel 2018 due to the controversy surrounding the event but changed his mind the following year and has appeared in all the other events since then.

4 Wrestlers Once Got Stuck In The Country

Wrestling fans stated their concerns over the safety of the wrestlers traveling to Saudi Arabia over the years, and their concerns turned into a real-life scary incident when some WWE superstars were left stranded in the country following the 2019 Crown Jewel event.

A charter flight that was supposed to carry roughly 200 WWE employees, including the superstars, got delayed for multiple hours at the King Fahd International Airport. While several superstars and Vince McMahon had already left the country by private aircrafts and by booking their own flights back to the United States, the others were left stranded in Saudi Arabia. WWE even had to make changes to the SmackDown schedule and brought in the NXT superstars as replacements. However, the remaining WWE employees safely reached their destination after multiple hours of delay and had to undergo a traumatic situation.

3 Sami Zayn's Participation

Sami Zayn could not participate in the Saudi Arabian events due to the diplomatic tensions between the country and Zayn's home country of Syria. Kevin Owens also refrained from participating in the country after the Greatest Royal Rumble to support his friend.

However, Zayn entered Saudi Arabia for the first time after the two countries reached a temporary truce, and Kevin Owens also accompanied him when they defended the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa at Night of Champions 2023. Noam Dar also faces a similar situation due to being an Israeli and has never competed in a WWE Saudi Arabian event since the inception.

2 The Saudi's Reportedly Asked For Yokozuna & The Ultimate Warrior

When WWE held the Greatest Royal Rumble event in 2018, the Saudi officials reportedly asked for The Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna to be a part of the event, not knowing the fact that they were deceased.

However, WWE did give them an alternate version of Yokozuna by bringing in Sumo Wrestler Hiroki Sumi to be a part of the Greatest Royal Rumble match. The company also brought in giants like The Great Khali, Dan Matha, and Babatunde to give the Saudi fans a visual spectacle.

1 Revenue Compared To Other Events

As mentioned earlier, WWE makes a stunning $100 Million per year from the Saudi deal, and that's a big reason behind the company going ahead with hosting multiple shows in the country despite the criticisms.

WrestleMania is the biggest annual show in WWE and the recent edition of the event turned out to be highly successful for the company as they gained nearly $21.6 Million in ticket sales and also gained over $20 Million in sponsorship revenue. However, WWE reportedly makes $50-55 Million for each event they host in Saudi Arabia, which clearly shows why WWE gives such importance to the Saudi deal.