Saudi Arabian Journalist On Country’s Reaction To WWE Crown Jewel Women’s Match
Saudi Arabian journalist Mr. King spoke to Wrestling Inc. about the country’s reaction to Lacey Evans vs. Natalya at Crown Jewel, which was the first-ever WWE women’s match in Saudi Arabia. Highlights are below.
On The Match Coming Together: “That was a history-making moment. The women in Saudi Arabia are now allowed to do a lot stuff in Saudi Arabia that they weren’t able to do before like driving cars. So, this match gives a touching moment to the women to do something huge. Their dreams can be true here in Saudi Arabia. This is the beginning of a new age so I think this is huge for the women of Saudi Arabia.”
On Future Matches: “I don’t know. I think there needs to be women’s wrestling in Saudi Arabia because almost every single wrestling show in the world has a women’s division. But in Saudi Arabia, we didn’t have a wrestling division for women… This has really touched the women of Saudi Arabia and has given them hope they can achieve their dreams here. The difference of the culture and our religion rules are different than any other religion. It was a thing to respect our culture and religion. The WWE respected that and gave the women suitable clothes in the match.”
On Reactions To The Match: “A lot of people were really happy and there were a lot of people who weren’t happy about it. That’s a normal thing as not 100 percent of people will agree with you. I truly understand their opinion and their words as the change in the country is a little different for them. So, we have to respect their opinion. The change has been huge for us and I’m happy for the change. A lot of things we weren’t able to do in regards to entertainment. These cinema concepts – we didn’t have any place where we could watch movies and last month I watched The Joker. It was a dream come true for me to attend a movie and concert. I’m really happy and the entertainment authority in Saudi Arabia is doing work to change things in Saudi Arabia so a lot of events are being held here, not just in wrestling. As a wrestling fan, we would like to be in the front row. Wrestling fans were tweeting to the [people working at the Saudi General Sports Authority] and they were telling them, ‘Guys, please. We want to be in the front row.’ That’s happened in the last show and I think at the next couple of shows that will be the same”
