Crown Jewel / Saudi Arabia
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Crown Jewel removed from <a href="https://t.co/07CGuuQYOG">https://t.co/07CGuuQYOG</a> calendar <a href="https://t.co/RpMP3SkaoZ">https://t.co/RpMP3SkaoZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/pTj7WNX3eW">pic.twitter.com/pTj7WNX3eW</a></p>&mdash; Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) <a href="https://twitter.com/WONF4W/status/1051506444283965440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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If it means they end up cancelling the show and we don't have to watch DX v. Brothers of Destruction, I'd count that as a win.

Meltzer and David Bixenspan are both hearing from WWE sources that the event is still scheduled and that this is just an "error." Oh god. The sadist in me hopes they go ahead with this show.

Vince is such a stubborn prick. This might be one of his biggest public humiliations all because he won't admit this is dumb. Liberals and progressives hate the company for its propaganda, and conservatives are going to hate them because it is unpatriotic. He could seriously piss on everybody with this move.

Calm down, Noid. Your erection is showing.

Shut up, Dave.

Dave's not here, man.

Kids under 13 do not give two fucks about politics, only if "The Big Dog" gets to conquer Lesnar & Strowman inside a steel cadge....

1 thing I sorta assumed in regards to Akexa Bliss is that she must still be somewhat injured which is why they made it a tag match

You are correct, they don't care.

Also, WWE's largest viewing demographic is over the age of 50.

Gertner gets a question answered this week on Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru.

Joey Ryan bro.

I think only Trump can get them to cancel. He probably got them the deal in the first place so yeah no. It's gonna happen.

No but he is giving people who think wrestling is stupid bullets for their arguments.

It would be nice if they didn't.

They seem to play that card w/ MMA now too.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Multiple members of the WWE roster have told SI that they’re uncomfortable with performing in Saudi Arabia—and they should be (by <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinBarrasso?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JustinBarrasso</a>) <a href="https://t.co/RiT6tgwXy0">https://t.co/RiT6tgwXy0</a></p>&mdash; Sports Illustrated (@SInow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1051894244644937729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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UFC parent company pulls out of deal w/ Saudi Arabia


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For those unaware, Saudi Arabia was in the process of buying a small minority stake in Endeavor, which happens to be the parent company of the UFC. While ostensibly for less $ for the life of the deal, this is arguably a bigger step than WWE would be taking it they pulled out. <a href="https://t.co/VqgE5EF54y">https://t.co/VqgE5EF54y</a></p>&mdash; David Bixenspan (@davidbix) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/1051908494952226818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I also think there's zero percent chance WWE will pull out of the deal.

Wrestling IS stupid.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Steadfast &amp; Glorious ����<br>Demise is the outcome of these weak endeavors <a href="https://t.co/WBb9yusaE6">pic.twitter.com/WBb9yusaE6</a></p>&mdash; Foreign Ministry ���� (@KSAmofaEN) <a href="https://twitter.com/KSAmofaEN/status/1051505106628284417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Considering the recent feud between Saudi Arabia and Canada, could see the Saudis be crazy enough to request WWE's Canadian wrestlers be banned from the event.

Plus you have your Corey Graves and Seth Rollins types that know they will get roasted on social media if they mention anything positive about the event on social media or tv. Same for if they try to act being disgusted since they got ridiculed for their fake outrage last time (Graves with Greatest Rumble, Rollins for Boobygate).

At its core it’s only as stupid as movies, TV or any other form of entertainment.

Now the way it’s currently presented...

If WWE had any slim hope of the Saudi embassy scandal dying down before Crown Jewel occurs, that's pretty much impossible now. Same for the backlash being even greater if they still go ahead with the event.

According to CNN, Saudi government will release an official report soon admitting they killed the dissident journalist. Also going to confirm reports of them luring him into the embassy in order to abduct him from Turkey.

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1051922561846657025
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/statu...12600391479298

So progressive.

but I mean it's a little gay. It's not a negative.

It’s about the connotation. Calling it “homoerotic” is doing a disservice to the art form.

lol but I mean it is homoerotic. Who cares?

I played rugby for 12 years. Homoerotic as fuck. It's not a slight against anyone or anything. You've gotta be v insecure as a fan and unrealistic with yourself if that bothers you in any way.

The joke is "low hanging fruit" I suppose, but really, c'mon... it's right there for the taking.

Disagree. Kids are not as stupid as people say. They know Roman Reigns is not cool. They know wrestling is not cool. And they do care about politics. They watch the news, either with their parents or without them, and they get a sense of the urgency our world is in.

There's also this point. Kids don't watch WWE because of the aforementioned cool factor. It's older fans who fell in love when they were younger and are holding out a candle for hope.

This is the smartest thing you've said in quite a while. Completely agree. It's not even that the guys are old, it's the emphasis the rudimentary "Here this is," heatless interjection of guys who just have matches because "Hey, hey..." There's no real continuous thread or evolution in the issues.

I loved this week's episode. I can't wait for the Meltzer episode this Thursday.

Um, well, yeah, he kind of is. He reduces it to a parody of itself, which makes fun of the process of making fun more than it actually has a serious target to critique.

Yeah, I hate the phrase "wrestling is stupid." I often think that myself in the sense that it's really not life or death and in the trivial sense that everything is stupid, but in the context of it being this ridiculous pantomime...nah. It can be the art of crowd manipulation through conflict that warrants serious intellectual appreciation and emotional involvement. When it works, wrestling is smarter than its audience and critics.

How often have you seen some bullshit reported by the AP that makes them look like absolute marks? "Oh, they use fake blood," or Jerry Lawler and Jim Carrey work them on the set of the Kaufman movie. They thought Donald Trump actually bought the company at one point.

People always give me shit for saying this, but if I were in the talents' position, I absolutely would not go. I don't think I would work for WWE, to be honest, but damn if you can't have a bit of pride.

I've been very fortunate in my professional life. I can admit that. I've never been starving on the streets, and whenever I've had the chance to weigh up my values over a job, I've always been able to choose my values. I've left places that I can't agree with philosophically, because I knew I could get employment elsewhere. Maybe that's privilege?

But I would absolutely not go on this tour. I wouldn't compromise my own integrity by participating in a propaganda campaign like that. And what are they going to do? Fire me? Okay. I'll go work for New Japan or ROH or something. I'm sure I'd be an internet darling after doing it. But the thing is they're not going to fire anyone, because the PR for that would be disastrous. That's why New Day and Titus O'Neil can speak out about Hogan. As if Vince is going to fire black talent for saying they are uncomfortable working around a racist in 2018 with their image concerns, lol.

Worst case scenario about not going: You get more over.

And WWE begin to trail. For a guy who likes to present himself as a man of action, Vince is looking mighty subservient right now.

Ugh, I'm on the fence about this one. Ronda herself is really good. She's got a great game face when she isn't smiling, and it's nice to see someone that can actually punch. She's intense in all the right ways, and she can sell her ass off. They've done the best job they can do with her. But has she really made a difference?

There's the problem of the division around her. You've only got a few women who can be believable in opposition, and the rest of the time she has to spend working with Divas. This has always been a problem with the dynamics of the division. She's heading into a match against Nikki fucking Bella at their PPV. Is she going to be selling for her? That's not going to go over well. They'll be in front of a New York crowd, all of whom have bought tickets probably intending to be "polite" to women's wrestling, but if they peak early, the show is underwhelming, the work is soft, the show is booked poorly, Nikki Bella is given too much star treatment, or they feel that this is golden goosed, they could potentially shit ALL over it. What's that going to do to their psyches?

The crowd is the most interesting element to this upcoming show. But yeah, I'm worried about whether or not Ronda is going to be the star for them they really want her to be.

Well, it is quite homoerotic. They haven't caught on to how nerdy it is now. But when comparing it to MMA, it is a bunch of men firing up their testosterone, at least in theory, to explode in a burst of toxic masculinity. It's pretty gay, haha.

It's even weirder when you consider the socialist compount the industry has openly become. Everyone co-operates in such a weird and performative way. It's less suppressed in its homoeroticism, and now embraces almost an actively camp aura.

You're stretching a bit, TDO. Considering how informed Oliver's writing staff is, I expect a bit more.

I don't understand the reasoning behind wanting to cancel the WWE Crown Jewel event. I'm not big on politics but I understand that the most progressive Saudi Arabia has been is when WWE is in town. I don't see why a democracy would look down upon a company from their country trying to work with a country like Saudi Arabia.

Because they cut up journalists and cut off women's heads. They're not progressive when WWE is in town. Wtf? They're a country owned by a dictating family that pay WWE to come in and say how great they are basically as a vanity project so they can enter crooked deals with more Americans.

It's not even politics, really. It's common decency. If a murderer pays you $5,000 to say he's great on television, would you do it? If so, get some personal pride.

A democracy looks down on it because Saudi Arabia isn't a democracy. Women get locked up for expressing themselves and daring to drive. They're a totalitarian regime. Accepting money from them to pretend that they aren't is the cheapest kind of whoring you can do. In terms of ethics.

Doesn't matter if Saudi Arabia is a democracy or not. The whole point of democracy is to hear everyone's ideas. The people of Saudi Arabia have no control over what their government does so I don't see a reason to punish these people by pulling the show. And yes what I seen from WWE's first event in Saudi Arabia they showed how the country was progressing to let women have more rights.

We kill our own in the US every day so I don't see this Saudi Arabia problem killing a journalist a big deal. Shit happens every day over here. As far as the women go that's their culture and its getting better. I couldn't give a shit about it. If the WWE is going to put on a big show for these people and treat it as a big deal than as a wrestling fan I want to see it.

Because its all smoke & mirrors and BS marketing considering WWE is being paid to shill propaganda-like videos boasting about it. The general consensus is WWE pretty much does whatever the Saudis want to please them and have no real say in the deal.

In regards to politics, its a huge deal because the Saudis violated a big unwritten rule and international laws regarding the status of embassies. Need to check but don't think even some of the more well known evil regimes in history did something like this before.

Dear Simple Fan, they're using WWE's "global reach" for propaganda. I understand that you're a fan and would love to see the event. Knock yourself out. Please don't attempt to justify it by comparing the United States to Saudi Arabia. That's just wrong (on so many levels). We are lightyears ahead of them in almost all aspects of society and rights. The working class is treated as slaves FFS.

It's still a great deal for WWE and I don't see this as a reason to pass that up. Yeah it's all propaganda but if you're not used to that with today's media than you are doing pretty well. I could care less what goes on in Saudi Arabia unless it's a WWE event.

Alot of people ignore the problems in the United States when they're given something like this in another country to worry about. You're being worked by the media to ignore what's really important.

WWE's incentive is money. You can spin it however you want. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

shut the fuck up, Dave.

Nah man, I think I've given you more time than you deserve. Calling me out for being insecure or unrealistic because some idiot on the writing staff decided to make a lazy joke about pro-wrestling being "homoerotic". You completely disregarded a legit point because of my past transgressions. You are pathetic, TDO. Also, you don't need to remind how fucked up I am. I am very aware of it.

Pro wrestling is homo erotic. You fucking knob.

That is your opinion, dipshit. It's not a fact. It's about you going above and beyond to defend a pathetic attempt at humor. It's cringeworthy in 2018.

Why are you taking me characterizing wrestling as homoerotic as an insult? It isn't an insult. It's the truth. I don't watch it because of that (OR DO I), but it's two oiled up men in their underpants, in a business largely based on aesthetics rolling around with one another. It's just like how women's beach volleyball is very sexual even though I'm sure volleyball purists watch it for the athletic display.

I just think wrestling fans get very butt hurt about these things. Why would you be offended about someone calling wrestling homoerotic? As I said, it isn't an insult. He didn't even say it as an insult. Your own preconceived notions and sensitivities left you feeling that way. Maybe you just need to get the pacifier out of your mouth and grow up.

FTR I know you weren't offended King. I was specifically directing my lambasting towards Dave.

But in regards to what you were saying... wrestling is actually gay. It's not the same as me saying "Hey Cool King, you're gay because your mom packs your lunch". That isn't gay, that's using 'gay' as a negative and implying being gay is somehow a bad thing. And wrestling's rampant homoeroticisim is easy to laugh at because it's so latent while trying to disguise itself behind a veil of machismo-infused hetero-sexuality.

The joke itself wasn't even to highlight how gay wrestling is, it was to actually to highlight how deep in the Saudi's pockets they are.

I wish, Im just don't think the show should be cancelled because of a dead journalist.

Dudes shave their bodies, oil them up to listen, get a pump before grappling each other and trying to make the other submit to their will

that's just like your opinion, man.

Vice covering #CancelCrownJewel now too


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WWE's Saudi Arabia nightmare. <a href="https://t.co/pTDwUR5C2Z">https://t.co/pTDwUR5C2Z</a></p>&mdash; VICE (@VICE) <a href="https://twitter.com/VICE/status/1052206127193178112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Moved the Saudi Arabia stuff to its own thread (from 101k replies) because there are a lot of posts and it is a "major topic"

I see that you went back to middle school to fetch that insult. "Homoerotic" wasn't used as a term of endearment. The connotation was blatant. I expect a lot more from them. It was a lame attempt at humor and not something that deserves to be dignified in 2018.

Gotta agree with Dave here. Regardless of how anyone took it, he clearly MEANT it as an insult. That was the whole joke. It wasn't just a passing reference to wrestling's homo-eroticism. It was "LOL Wrestling's gay! Now let's all have a laugh about it, audience!"

Now... how offended you wanna be about it is up to you. But the context was clear.

I mean it's a joke about its latent homoerotocism, but that doesn't mean it's an insult. And tbh it was a pretty funny joke particularly as an analogy.

Alright, now we’re definitely gonna disagree. He basically said “WWE likes Saudi Arabia as much it’s gay!” A 12 year old could have written that. Lol

Not gonna give him credit for saying it slightly more eloquently.

It's all about the delivery and the spin and is largely why Jon Oliver is funny. You can call the material uninspired (I even called it low hanging fruit in one of my posts) but I laughed because it's pretty hilarious how gay wrestling is. Largely due to the "tough guy/ hetero" narrative it tries to portray contrasted with how absolutely over the top and "camp" it is. I mean there's only ever been Darren Young who was gay and a babyface and there was never a storyline about his bravery for coming out. Whereas every other gay character has been a predatory heel who fans booed due to their perceived "gayness".

Then on top of that, wrestling fans (not saying you) lose their shit when you call it gay.

I don't see what's so hard to understand about that. I wonder if LPGA fans get annoyed when people discuss its association with lesbians.

My point, is similar to literally everyone I played rugby with, we embrace the latent homoeroticism. It's one of the many things that make wrestling particularly quirky. Never mind the amount jobber squash fetish channels on Youtube.

The John Cena “You can’t see me” joke after was pretty cringeworthy, too. I’m more offended by the bad comedy than anything.

Also I think you’re adding your own spin to make it funny. You know about Goldust and Darren Young and wrestling’s history of preying on gay stereotypes. I highly doubt he was going any deeper than “lol sweaty men grappling. GAYYYYY.” He was mad at WWE for being pro Saudi Arabia and needed to burn them and that was his way of doing it. By insulting it for being homoerotic. Lol

Low-hanging fruit isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just... put a new twist on it.

And I’m sure there are plenty of LPGA fans and even more golfers who get upset when someone makes a joke about it being for lesbians.

TDO called Steve Buscemi 'fucking ugly' then tried to explain to him that it wasn't an insult because it's true.

:lol:

Not really. I can use specific examples because I'm a wrestling fan, but it is a form of entertainment so laden in machismo it is naturally funny to consider how homoerotic it is. That's not to say you can't display lots of machismo and be flagrantly homosexual, but our initial bias/preconception is to see the funny contrast. Like... from what I've garnered, most outsiders think "look at these big sweaty 'tough men' pretending to beat one another up, but really they just want to touch one another."

It's the same with most sports tbh.

"fucking ugly" is a negative descriptor. Homoerotic is not.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Don’t kill journalists” <a href="https://t.co/cI8TvxpdHs">https://t.co/cI8TvxpdHs</a></p>&mdash; DavKind (@DavKind76) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavKind76/status/1052536443296509952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Me calling Big Vic a dumb mongoloid however is an insult, but is also the truth :cool:

Ok, beta-cuck. (Not an insult, just an observation)

Ok, beta-cuck. (Not an insult, just an observation)

Mine was better. TRY AGAIN

Do you think Boxing and UFC is homoerotic too?

What about Figure Skating?

Someone is trying to frame me of being Tonya Harding

Stop framing me.

Sorry Slik

Sorry Slik

UFC is. Boxing not so much.

2 shirtless men hugging:

https://i2.wp.com/extremestrikers.co...size=300%2C207

Such a loving look in Pacquiaos eyes, too. Definitely wants to go further but he knows society isn’t ready yet.

I love when PC conflicts with PC. If dude just called somebody gay there would be protests and boycotts calling for his job. But calling something gay as a way to push a PC agenda like "how could WWE still do business with Saudis after what they did, I mean we already know they are gay but come on!" and suddenly it's cool.

Saudis kill a journalist, and everybody should just exclude the whole country from everything, and you are a monster if you dont. But the President says he doesn't want refugees cause a few terrorist posed as refugees, and he is pure evil. It's all about spinning a story.

It's like that lady who called the police on the kid for what she thought was him grabbing her ass. She would have been a #metoo #timesup hero if it wasn't for who she called the police on, but she failed to realize a white woman calling police on a black person is more offensive than a woman being sexually assualted. End result, she gets mocked with cute nicknames and has to apologize.

lol, conservative are going to what now?

2 shirtless men hugging:

https://i2.wp.com/extremestrikers.co...size=300%2C207

That is exactly the problem. WWE is showing this place as a progressive regime when it really fucking isn't. I read a thing about a woman (the woman?) they got to appear actually being put in prison for expressing herself. They are spreading these false messages to cover up human rights abuses. That's what's so egregious about this. I honestly didn't care when they just ran a show. I didn't care when they run China despite that being a complicated nation. It's the fucking disgusting fact they call it "progressive" and brainwash marks like you into placation so they can behead more women.

The US's problems are many, but what the fuck does that have to do with what we're talking about? It's a straw-man to marginalize the regimented evil in Saudi Arabia. It's irrelevant.

Then you, sir, are a cunt.

And on a further point about "everybody does it, so what's the big deal?", the thing about this is that almost every other entertainment property and many big businesses have actually pulled the fuck out, because they know how toxic this is. So no, not everybody is doing it. WWE is, which is the point -- not what happens in the US.

No one is ignoring the problems in the United States. Wtf? You can care about two things simultaneously. And the statement "what's really important" is incredibly disgusting. The issues in Saudi Arabia are very important. Fuck you.

I get what you're saying here. It was a little cringe in terms of delivery. It's just that he isn't wrong, haha.

I don't disagree that it wasn't funny. There is an amazingly barbed rant about WWE's hypocrisy and their history of disgusting promotional tactics. I'm not a big fan of John Oliver, honestly, or the left-wing "let's take easy shots at the dumb Republicans" comedy. It's like shooting fish in a barrel and it often feels like punching down. I wouldn't defend it as a sterling example of wit.

I think what is telling about it is that even with his comedians and research teams, and all the press WWE is getting in regards to this deal, people still don't give a fuck about WWE enough to dig beneath the surface and actually probe them for the insightful stuff. There's an amazing take-down piece on WWE and how they run ship waiting to happen, but no one with brains is going to waste them on this company, which is why they've gotten away with shit for so long, haha.

It's not PC contradicting PC. It's not that Oliver was saying that being gay is a bad thing. The perception about wrestling is that it's full of men that are afraid of the idea of being gay (not true, but again, no one cares enough to follow), so it's calling them out on the latent homosexuality. It's like when a super-conservative gets caught having a gay affair in a bathroom stall. There's nothing wrong with being gay, it's the hypocrisy of guys going around acting like "men" and then being idiosyncratically what they pretend to be the opposite of.

If the audience saw it as an anti-gay slur, they wouldn't have laughed and Oliver would have gotten heat for it. It probably wouldn't have made the air. They think about these jokes. The joke was not at the expense of being gay, it was at the expense of wrestling. That being said, I do think jokes about latent homosexuality are passe, easy and off in their aim anyway. And it is far more applicable to wrestling two or three decades ago -- back when it was culturally relevant. The writers were probably thinking about Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior more than they were thinking about Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

The rest of your post doesn't really make sense to me, haha. They're completely separate issues. Not doing business with an oppressive regime and not accepting refugees from those regimes are actually opposite issues. I don't see a contradiction there at all. And I'm not that familiar with the story about the kid and the woman beyond the headline, but from what I read her statement was based on fear and prejudice? I don't really want to get into that, but it sounds like you're making some massive sweeping generalizations there that don't accurately reflect the issues.

I'll break this down to the simplest thing you need to know.

If Donald Trump wasn't best buddies with Vince the media wouldn't give a fuck about the WWE running a show in Saudi Arabia.

Noid, your post is too long to quote, but droford got my point. Everything gets spun to fit a narrative that is desired.

I just find humor in the hypocrisy of the guy trying to get on his high horse while at the same time taking a cheap shot.

I disagree because of the sheer amount of companies pulling out of their Saudi deals since the embassy scandal went down. Makes the WWE look a lot worse by comparison for still trying to hold the event and their unwillingness to make a real public statement on the issue.

They'd be getting the same negative reception even if Vince didn't have any personal connections to Trump.

Yeah, I agree with this. They're covering a lot of companies that aren't at all affiliated with Trump.

Incorrect, Trump hates Amazon, he is always complaining about them for no reason.

Amazon not only sells to Saudi Arabia, they have their version of Amazon.com, called souq.

Nobody is calling out Amazon.

Do I think WWE should promote how great Saudi Arabia is, hell no, even before all this.

But because of Trump, Linda McMahon, the WWE HOF, all that intermixing, WWE is getting the heat. A big part of it is because Trump likes their money and selling them weapons, so this is a way to protest that after what happened.

If Trump was dead set against America working with Saudi Arabia, WWE would get praise for standing up to Trump by the same people who are mad at them now.

That legit makes no sense. Why would WWE get praised for siding with the regime involved in the embassy murder. People are made at the WWE because they don't buy the "progress" excuse and WWE trying to sneakily go ahead with the event. Even WWE's shareholders are not entirely in all praise for the Saudi deal since WWE refuses to let them know the exact details of it.

If anything, it would lead to even more backlash and get rid of any pretext of them being with the Saudis for non-monetary reasons. They'd also be opening themselves to potentially serious legal repercussions if the US were to pass sanctions.

Does it make you tingle?

No no no. Nothing to do with the regime or supporting it.

My point is regardless of the situation, the media will spin it and make it about hating Trump.

If WWE could not be tied to Trump, it would not be such an issue. If they were against Trump, the same media would spin WWE in a positive light for going against Trump.

That is all I am saying. Nothing political or a moral stand, just that WWEs portrayal in this story is skewed by the media's hatred for Trump.

WWE going would be a bad move in my opinion either way, but the level of anger and disgust toward them by the high horse media would be far less if WWE was not seen as "Trump Friendly".

Trump's son-in-law has a lot to do with US/Saudi relations. Trump is fully supportive of WWE in this for now.

No, the media would not be praising WWE for going if Trump were against it, lol.

But they haven't really done so. Most of the discussion involving Trump and WWE revolves around if Trump talked to Vince, maybe WWE would be more likely to cancel or move the event.

Since Trump seems to be of the mindset that it is unfair people are blaming the Saudis, chances of WWE doing anything themselves are slim to none.

WWE would still be catching a ton of heat even if they never had any involvement with or were hated by Trump. In a way, WWE brought this to themselves with their constant and unashamed PR blabber about being a driver of progress for women's wrestling.

Pretty much night & day of how WWE was treated for an event in the UAE I believe when it came to women's wrestling. The government didn't ban it because of ultra conservative religious reasons and WWE's women wrestlers wore full body gear as an acceptable compromise.

You're putting the cart before the horse there. People are upset becaus of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses and the corruption of the regime. If the regime is corrupt because of Trump, sure, they might be mad at Trump too, but the terms aren't conditional based on that. It's because Saudi Arabia is a shitty, shitty place that does shitty, shitty things to its people.

Correct, but Trumps response to this incident, and the comments he made which are so absurd, saying about he wants their money so it doesn't go to Russia and rouge hit squads, that the media is pushing back against all things Saudi, including Crown Jewel.

WWE should have bailed from the deal after the Saudis were upset about Carmella in a promotional video and Davari got death threats after the GRR.