Despite playing a character, Ariya Daivari apparently received death threats after his appearance at the Greatest Royal Rumble event.
At the event, Ariya and his brother Shawn, who was making a WWE return after not being in the company for 11 years, confronted some Saudi Arabian recruits. The Daivari brothers touted Iran as being greater than Saudi Arabia to play off of the conflict between the two countries, which caused them to get beaten down by the recruits.
Later, Ariya went twitter and apologized to anyone who might have been offended by the segment, noting that he plays a character and that he has an "incredible amount of respect for the great people of Iran." He added that he is very proud of his Iranian heritage: