Saudi Arabia has long been under scrutiny from the west for its abysmal human rights record, especially as it pertains to women. They’ve done a great deal of sportswashing to help cover for this — among other atrocious issues — and that has included allowing WWE to hold women’s wrestling matches for each of its annual trips to the Kingdom.
Of course, they’re not allowed to dress the way they do here Stateside. Instead of their usual gear, which shows plenty of skin, they’re forced to wear one piece
suits with as little skin exposed as possible. If we’re to believe former WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green, who just performed in Riyadh at Crown Jewel, the women in the company actually love it.
As she put it to Good Karma Wrestling (via Wrestling Observer):
“It’s funny because we love going to Saudi Arabia and putting on those one-piece outfits. The girls love wearing them, love designing them, love performing in them, but we never know how the fans are going to react as females in the ring. We never know. Are they going to give us exactly what we think they’re going to give us? Are they not? Usually, we can predict what American fans and what European fans are going to give us in terms of reaction, but we never know. But I would say this is one of my favorite crowds, specifically this crowd at Crown Jewel. They were hot start to finish. They were singing everyone’s songs. They were reacting my entire match. I can’t speak for anyone else’s, but my entire match they were giving Liv and I what we wanted, and that’s special. So I have no notes on the Saudi Arabian crowd at Crown Jewel. In fact, I would go back and do it over again.”
That’s certainly one way to look at it!
