In October, the world’s most prominent wrestling company, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), took its ‘crown jewel’ women’s match to none other than the liberal haven of…. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Its chief ‘brand officer’ wrestling personality Stephanie McMahon said the move would mark a ‘cultural shift’. ‘As a woman, as a mother, as just a person, I couldn’t be more proud,’ she boasted to celebrity news channel TMZ.
In truth, it’s just another chapter in Saudi Arabia’s woman-washing campaign – diverting attention from the regime’s consistent jailing of women activists and state repression. Ironically, women were forbidden to attend the show unless accompanied by male guardians, and wrestlers themselves had to be modestly dressed to comply with Saudi custom.
