Figure Four Weekly: Backlash to WWE Saudi Arabia relationship picks up

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WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia has always been a bet that the overwhelming financial rewards would outweigh the inevitable public relations damage that it brings.

With it so overtly going against the women’s evolution messaging that the company is promoting, WWE entered into the 10-year agreement with the knowledge that there would be backlash. But that was a controversy that would mostly exist inside the wrestling bubble. WWE could point to incremental changes that are being made and claim that they’re helping push things forward by having a presence there and being part of modernizing Saudi Arabia with the Vision 2030 project.

April’s Greatest Royal Rumble and the months leading up to WWE announcing their return to the country weren’t without controversy, but the apparent murder of a Saudi journalist has now thrust WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia into the mainstream.

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