Several major news outlets around the world – including the Wall Street Journal, the UK Independent, BBC News, CNN, Associated Press, and others – carried Saudi’s General Sports Authority apology from the Greatest Royal Rumble in the weekend after WWE aired the dual-brand PPV commercial featuring the WWE women dancing and signing along with fellow male WWE Superstars for the audience in the stadium.
The Kuwait Times wrote that Saudi Arabia “embraced ‘trashy’ Americana” and noted that the advert on the big screens of “scantily clad female wrestlers” drew euphoric cheers from men and women alike who didn’t mind posting videos of the ad from inside the stadium on their social media.
In their apology, the Saudi GSA said that they did not approve of the ad and that they will make sure something like this never happens again as it is against the values of their country.
WWE has not commented publicly about what happened so it’s not known if it was a genuine mistake airing the advert in the stadium or someone going “rogue” defying Saudi orders.
