Seth Rollins Pushes Back On Criticism Of WWE Going to Saudi Arabia

WWE’s trips to Saudi Arabia have been controversial among wrestling fans, something that Seth Rollins pushed back on recently. WWE’s relationship with the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia has been a point of issue with wrestling fans all the way back to 2018. The assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been tied to the Saudi government, put a negative focus on WWE first Crown Jewel event which took place a month after.

Since then, the company has expanded the relationship with non-Saudi specific PLEs. That reaches a new height in in January when the Royal Rumble takes place in the country, and then again in 2027 when the WrestleMania 43 is held there.

The topic came up during Rollins’ appearance on Mohr Stories. When mentioning the Royal Rumble, Rollins was asked if they would “get s**t” for the appearance the way several comedians did earlier this year for performing at a comedy festival there. You can see highlights of Rollins’ comments below:

On WWE Getting Flack For Going To Saudi Arabia:

“We’ve been going there for six years. We’ve been taking s**t for six years. Oh, of course. ‘It’s blood money.’ Yeah, well guess what? We get paid by America, too. What do you think? You think there’s no blood money there? Come on. Get out of here.”

On His Experience Seeing Saudi Arabia Change:

“Look, here’s what I’ll tell you. We’ve gone there for six years. And I’ll say this; when we went in 2019, I was skeptical as well. ‘Oh, I don’t know about this. I don’t know. I’m don’t know if I — how I feel about it.’ But we go over there, and the change in the culture and the people at our shows in six years has been incredible.

“When I when I tell you, we went there the first time, there were no women on our show. There were no women backstage. they wouldn’t do anything. Now we go there and it’s just like a WWE show. The fans, there’s a ton of women there, local.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Jay Mohr with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.