Saudi Arabia’s GSA Issues An Apology For Showing Ads With Women In It At The ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’

The Saudi Arabian General Sport Authority issues an apology.

In the weeks leading up to the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' there was backlash towards WWE for hosting the event, which took place last night, and the backlash derived from the fact that women are not allowed to do certain things in Saudi Arabia; one of which prevented the female superstars of WWE from competing on the show. Laws and tradition in Saudi Arabia that have to do with social gatherings or events much like the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' do not allow for women to be around non-kin men and is extremely rare if it happens. The sports-entertainment company made it a requirement that there had to be one woman in each group that had tickets for the front row area.

The rule of no women appearing/wrestling on the show apparently was intact for promotional videos as well. At some point during the show an ad aired on the big screen that featured WWE's female superstars. This lead to the Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority to send out the following announcement apologizing to those in attendance for the ad that featured WWE's female talent:

Reddit user "Compromise" translated the announcement above:

"The General Sport Authority would like to apologize to the viewers and attendees of last night’s WWE event that took place in Jeddah, over the indecent scene involving women that appeared as an ad before a segment. It would like to confirm it’s total disapproval of this, in the shadow of its commitment to eliminate anything that goes against the communities values.

The authority has made sure to ban showing of any segment that involves women wrestling or any scenes related to it, and stipulated that to the company (WWE). The authority also disapproved any promotional stuff with pictures or videos showing women in an indecent way, and emphasized on commitment of this rule. And it’s a commitment that the authority would still commit to forever in all of it’s events and programs."

Fightful did have full coverage of the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' event and our very own Sean Ross Sapp reviewed the action that transpired during the show on the 'Greatest Royal Rumble' review podcast.