Saudia Arabia - Womens Match - WWE/UFC

When the WWE goes to Brazil they know (now) not to mess with the flag. In Germany it’s not called the Elimination Chamber. And when in Saudi Arabia the don’t present womens matches.

This is a conversation that is going to be had while tip-toing around religion but let’s acknowledge it. Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country.

In our secular eyes Alexa Bliss’s gear hasn’t passed the tipping point. Roughly 80% of her ass cheeks covered in skin tight material and 20% is exposed. If it were 40% maybe that would be too far. The mark is set differently in other places. It’s 100% of the body in S.A. That’s the societal standard. This data is then considered. A conclusion is reached. With a few adjustments made, two parties from separate countries are going to do business. There’s a win in there. WWE UFC should receive no backlash if they go somewhere where they won’t feature a women’s match.

Thoughts?

People are being too literal with this “women’s evolution” shit…it’s still a corporation and will chase the money.

The basic, central question that goes WAY beyond wrestling is: Is it ethical for an organization (particularly a “global” organization) to do something that runs counter to its own “mission” in order to comply with local ethical standards?

I can’t quickly find one that isn’t behind a paywall or is otherwise restricted, but search for “Google in China case study” and you’ll find a ton of research and academic papers on Google’s response to Internet censorship in China. It’s essentially the same debate.

There are plenty of ethical arguments that can be made for either side of this. I am very interested to read WWE’s official response to the inevitable Internet rage that is bound to come their way.

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Then why can’t they just be a corporation. Ufc markets themselves as a sport while other companies are businesses. WWE tries to be everthing to everyone. They tout having women wrestle in one Muslim country ignore another. They have to be philanthropists bur they honor shady people like Moolah and Warrior, they start an anti-bullying campaign, just read justin roberts, jim ross and any auto biography from the last two decades. Their owners get off on bullying their employees publically.

If they just ran a sports entertainment company and didn’t want to make Stephanie an angel and Vince a God in PR, no issues. But they cant help themselves being hypocrites

The UAE as a whole doesnt practice Islam as strictly. The societal standard is set where it is acceptable to feature a woman’s match live. On the 24 documentary 5 fans even thought it was hope.

The rest of the fans bit their toungues like the Long Beach crowd that heard the “better than Roman” chant but didn’t want to participate to give it a rub.

But the societal standard is different in other places and that’s okay.

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So if WWE works with Muslims it’s bad. …if ROH is owned by a group with just as far right leaning views. …it’s ok.

That’s what nobody has the bravery to say. Every arguement against this partnership begins with an assumption that Saudi Arabia (the Muslim country) is bad.

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My argument is the wwe are hypocrites. Plain and simple. What their championing changes from week to week. They can do business with whoever they like.

I know there are differences in countries and within religious groups. I just think overall WWE are hypocritical. In one commercial they are promoting a women’s revolution, on another they are running in a country they know full well wouldn’t allow women to wrestle.

I thank @zekey for his knowledge and discussion of this subject.

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I don’t really have a position in this but wanted to pose a question. When WWE goes to a country, state, province, etc. (in most cases) they will follow the rules and laws as will their talent. For example Louisiana has laws that prevent WWE from doing things involving piledrivers and blood.

What about in cases where religion and law are intertwined? Does the WWE still tow the line and respect the rules even if they themselves do not believe those laws are justified?

LOL everyone is hypocritical…pointing it out is like going “HEY!!! That person is breathing”…

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To try and defend the WWE here is pretty hard, but maybe they would like to be influencers to the Vision 2030 plan. Women’s rights are not going to change over night there, but the WWE and other western companies could try to guide Saudi Arabia towards to a more western approach to women’s rights.

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My brother Brad. I just wrote about the Arab = Bad presumption.

The women of Saudia Arabia aren’t clammering for the western approach. You gotta open your mind from what is our norm. There are women who practice Islam and choose to dress that way. There’s a woman in every family. The brothers/husbands/fathers are not the Iron Sheik character who are fine watching their ladies suffer in inhumane living conditions. They live comfortably. Its just different.

And WWE is a business. The focus is to make money and philanthropy is the future of marketing it’s the way businesses are going to win in the future. #DivasRevolution isnt a noble cause. You know that.

The WWE is playing to a global audience to get money from everyone. Its effective. I like Sami Zayn just a little bit more cuz he’s muslim. I love the humanization of Mustafa Ali. In 2005 me and my brother thought Muhammed Hassan was cool. I like all the Muslim characters. My favourite X-Men mutant is Dust.

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A couple of you are highlighting the hypocrisy. Yes, WWE is taking pride in the UAE match. Yes there won’t be a women’s match in S.A. I don’t see the error in that. A womens barrier was broken. Hooray. A barrier won’t be broken in a more strict Muslim nation. That’s fine. Women on that card won’t have their post-intermission match in their sexy attire to draw men back to their seats. Im not going to pretend that’s not the womens role on a house-show. And I won’t pretend all countries have the same customs.

I’d really like to hear your analysis Zekey on Vision 2030 and if you oppose the changes it is setting out to accomplish, specific to women’s rights increasing and the right to drive, attending recent soccer matches in the country etc.

I have been pretty clear how opposed I am to the restrictions. I don’t believe in women being secondary to men in any culture or seeking permission from a man for standard rights within society, regardless of religious norms. It would appear that the entire movement going on now is moving away from these restrictions and working towards changing the world’s perception.

At the very least, this conversation should be had and all points raised.

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I don’t know what Vision 2030 is. I read the 1st paragraph on it’s Wikipedia after I read Brad’s post.
I CAN say with certainty that any law on driving cars is government influenced and not religion.

I didn’t mention anything about the Muslim religion. I was talking about the government of Saudi Arabia allowing women some or all of the rights women have in Canada. This may be naive of me to think that the WWE can influence that but hey, why not.

Saudi Arabia’s basic women’s rights could extend to the workers of the companies they are trying to attract to improve tourism, like the WWE.

Dust is pretty bad ass :slight_smile:

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I think that’s giving WWE far too much credit. I doubt they’ve thought about that for a second – they just looked at the money and agreed to whatever restrictions are put in place.

As for whether they should even be there? My expectations are low for WWE but I’d really like it if they didn’t go to these oppressive countries. Sport/entertainment protests can affect social change (e.g South Africa) and WWE could use its influence for good here, but they just don’t care as long as there’s money to be made.

It really exposes the ‘empowering women’ stuff they come up with as naked hypocrisy.

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Thank you! I’ve been waiting for someone to say this. They make out like 20,000 people were chanting ‘this is hope’, in all the footage it sounds like maybe 10 at most. That’s 10, not 10,000 btw!

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Oh I know that’s too much credit to give the WWE, just trying to be the optimist. :sunglasses:

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