On April 27, WWE started their partnership with the Saudi General Sports Authority and presented the Greatest Royal Rumble. The event hosted over 60,000 fans and was main-evented by Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE has moved their scheduled events on 10/31 in Stockholm, Sweden and 11/1 in Oslo, Sweden to 5/11 and 5/12, respectively in order to have another event in Saudi Arabia on November 2.
Interestingly, this is only four days after the all-women’s Evolution pay-per-view, scheduled for October 28. As seen before during their trip to Saudi Arabia on April 27, women from the WWE could not attend the event due to the countries customs of not permitting them to come.
Thank you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for giving the Greatest Royal Rumble to the @WWE Universe, an event that’s truly the first of its kind. #WWEGRR pic.twitter.com/0lJw4zP8y3
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 28, 2018
This raises the topic of whether the Evolution pay-per-view was done to create general satisfaction of everyone in the WWE Universe, since there were many criticisms of WWE aligning with a culture who does not permit women to compete.
The Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority were so strict about women that WWE caught some flack due to airing a WWE commercial during the Greatest Royal Rumble event which showed women on it, which was not approved by the Saudi executives. This also raised the ire of many members of the WWE Universe.
Tickets are on sale now for @WWE Evolution here on Oct 28!
🎟: https://t.co/f7beKdEr2l https://t.co/DnKYLb61my
— Nassau Coliseum (@NassauColiseum) August 24, 2018
While the Women’s Evolution has proven to be successful due to elements such as the rivalry between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair, the signing of Ronda Rousey, as well as the competitive women’s matches on NXT, the timing of having Evolution just days before the next Saudi Arabia event does seem suspicious.
As of now, there is no name or promotion for this possible event in Saudi Arabia, although there have been rumors that a WrestleMania event could be occurring. However, that is not rumored to occur until 2020, and a location is not confirmed.
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