Is Vince McMahon Pushing Anti-Iranian Propaganda?
David Bixenspan of The Daily Beast has written an op-ed that accuses WWE chairmen and CEO, Vince McMahon, of pushing anti-Iranian propaganda for the Saudi Arabian government. According to Bixenspan, the Greatest Royal Rumble was “blatantly, bizarrely propagandistic.” Bixenspan points to the Greatest Royal Rumble Daivari segment as evidence for his argument. The segment featured the two Daivari brothers coming to the ring to a chorus of boos while waving Iranian flags before being overmatched by new Saudi Arabian WWE Superstars. Bixenspan describes the incident in the following,
“Shawn waved an Iranian flag while Rome introduced the brothers as being “from Iran”—even though Ariya’s WWE.com profile correctly lists his hometown as Minneapolis. As soon as the brothers appeared on the entrance stage, there was audible tension in the crowd, which quickly boiled over into deafening boos. While the crowd likely didn’t know about Shawn’s involvement in the WWE storyline that most closely mirrored real life terrorism, with an attack clearly designed to resemble beheading videos, it’s not as if it would help. After the Daivaris hit the ring, they trash talked the Saudi wrestlers about Iran being superior—with what was, in all honesty, pretty standard and benign verbiage—only to get bested by the local heroes in a quick confrontation.”
Bixenspan referred to the entire event as a Saudi Arabian infomercial,
“While xenophobia in wrestling is nothing new, using a conflict rooted in religious strife absolutely is—et alone in the context of what was effectively a Saudi infomercial.”
Those interested in reading the entire Bixenspan article may do so HERE.
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New Push Toward Saudi Gender Equality
India Times reports a new 236 page document calling for the intermingling of genders was sent to reporters before making its way to the Saudi government. The new document is part of the Saudi government’s Quality of Life program, which seeks to modernize and advance from previously held extremist views, in order to improve citizenship participation and boost investor confidence. The document called for “intermingling of both genders to enhance social cohesion,” and if it were fully adopted by the Saudi government would have a major effect on its new business partner, the WWE. The WWE were forced to leave its female Superstars at home for the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia.
