The situation regarding Saudi Arabia and the WWE is not painting the company in a good light at the moment. It’s been reported that Vince & WWE officials are determined to continue on with the event despite the disgusting allegiations of American journalist Jamal Khashoggy being assassinated by the Saudi government.
Other than a few statements to please the media outlets, everyone in the company has remained hushed on the situation. However, former WWE champion JBL was on Fox Business programs and addressed why he believes that the company should continue on with their plans to go to Saudi Arabia.
"From what I understand, yes [it is taking place]," JBL said.
"The idea is that WWE is going to go there. Right now, the official line is that they are monitoring the situation. My personal opinion is that they should go. I think the only way to promote change... look what we did with Cuba, you isolate a country and all you do is impoverish that country. You want to promote change. WWE went to Abu Dhabi, did the first women's match that had ever happened in the Middle East, and the crowd was chanting, in English, 'this is change.'
JBL also took aim at the Republican and Democratic Senators who requested that the company pause their relationship with Saudi Arabia in the midst of the investigation:
"For these Senators to come out and bash WWE on this... I've spent 7 Christmases in Iraq and Afghanistan with WWE," JBL continued. "I was with the WWE, first group to go down and visit the Twin Towers, while they were still burning and bodies were pulling out. We were the first group on 9/13 to have a mass gathering. Right after 9/11, people didn't know what was gonna happen. For these guys to hide behind their patriotism and their flag waving, to me, to try and improve their abysmal approval ratings, to me, is wrong. WWE has been at the forefront of change and if you want to change Saudi Arabia, you send something like WWE there."
Check out JBL’s full interview below: