I’m actually stunned. There are a lot of things that fans complain about over the WWE Saudi Arabia shows and a variety of them are rather understandable. The results have almost never meant anything long term and very little seems that it even needs to be taking place whatsoever. In addition to that, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a lot of issues of its own for a lot of fans, including their treatment of women in the country. WWE has claimed that its shows are designed, at least in part, to help with progression in the country but there have been very few signs that such a thing is happening. Now that has changed.
On Wednesday morning, WWE announced that there would be a women’s match taking place at Crown Jewel as Natalya would face Lacey Evans. Natalya and Evans have been feuding for nearly two months with Natalya winning their most recent match, a Last Woman Standing match. This is the first ever women’s match in the history of Saudi Arabia and a rare instance of a women’s wrestling match taking place in the Middle East. There is currently no word on any restrictions the women will have in their match.
WWE has already made an announcement. Check out Michael Cole making the announcement at the Crown Jewel media event:
BREAKING: As just announced by @MichaelCole, @LaceyEvansWWE and @NatbyNature will go one-on-one in the first-ever Women's match in Saudi Arabia TOMORROW at #WWECrownJewel! pic.twitter.com/te7cJGutEU
— WWE (@WWE) October 30, 2019
The world will be watching. I am so incredibly proud to represent our women’s division tomorrow night at #WWECrownJewel. It’s time to bring your best, Lacey. pic.twitter.com/TeglMWzbZM
— Nattie (@NatbyNature) October 30, 2019
WWE has made this kind of history before. Check out Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks in the first ever women’s match in Abu Dhabi:
Opinion: This is one of those things where I never thought it would happen until I saw it take place. That is what we have here and it is rather cool to see something like this take place. Of course it doesn’t solve all of the problems in this area or make a monumental change, but it is something different and that is a step in the right direction. Maybe it leads nowhere or maybe it does something that could make a little bit of a difference. Either way, it is certain something I didn’t see coming and that makes for a pretty interesting moment indeed.
How big of a deal is this? What will it lead to? Let us know in the comments below.
Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.
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