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The women of WWE have been chomping at the bit for the past 18 months when it comes to getting a match in Saudi Arabia and finally Lacey Evans and Natalya will make history tomorrow night when they become the first female wrestlers to perform in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The country has laws about women performing, and back in 2018 when WWE made their debut in Saudi Arabia as part of The Greatest Royal Rumble, they played the following advert promoting the end of the brand split on pay-per-view and were then forced to apologize because Carmella, Sasha Banks, and Bayley were seen showing too much skin.
WWE made a breakthrough as part of last year's Crown Jewel when Renee Young was given the green light to appear on the commentary desk and WWE tried to take that one step further back in June when Alexa Bliss and Natalya made the trip to The Middle East in the hopes they would be given the green light. This obviously wasn't the case and since Renee Young won't be part of this year's Crown Jewel, it appears that the women of WWE will make more history, finally.
Why has it taken WWE four trips to finally convince the Saudi Arabian authorities? Here are four reasons why now is the best time for the Women to make their debut in Saudi Arabia.
#4 There is no Evolution planned this year
There was a lot of backlash that followed WWE's first trip over to The Middle East back in April 2018, which is why WWE decided to give the women their own pay-per-view. Evolution made its debut in October, just days before WWE traveled to the Middle East once again without any female support.
Evolution was a huge moment for the women as they proved that they had what it takes to put on their own pay-per-view, but it's not an event that the company has decided to produce again this year.
In interviews, Triple H has stated that it could come back, but without the pull of Ronda Rousey, it would have been much harder for the company to sell tickets. A match in Saudi Arabia was the only way for WWE to avoid more backlash since 2019 would have been seen as a step backward in the Women's Revolution.
See WWE Crown Jewel Live Updates, Highlights of event, & more on Crown Jewel latest updates page.
#3 Without this match, there would be no female representation
WWE has found a way to broadcast their kickoff show panel from Connecticut as part of their recent trips to the Middle East, which meant that the women could be part of the show without having to ask for approval. Renee Young would be forced to dress differently, but she was allowed to appear on commentary and had been there for the past two visits to the country.
Young is no longer a commentator and it was revealed a few weeks ago that she wouldn't be making the trip to Saudi Arabia for the second Crown Jewel event, which meant that there would be no female representation at all.
This hasn't been the case since The Greatest Royal Rumble where women were banned from performing because of the laws in the country. Obviously, this is a step backward, WWE has been hoping to move forward throughout these trips to Saudi Arabia which is obviously why they agreed for women not to take part in the first three trips.
WWE couldn't allow their fourth trip to not feature any women at all, so obviously a match was the only acceptable step forward.
#2 The Saudi Arabian officials finally agreed
Reports over the past few weeks have stated that Vince McMahon has been over in the Middle East talking to officials in the hopes that he could finally get the women on the card. Natalya and Alexa Bliss made the trip over back in June in the hopes that McMahon would be able to convince them at the last minute, but this obviously wasn't the case.
Instead, the women were forced to watch on as the men performed in their male-only event once again. It appears that McMahon refused to quit this time, with no backup for the women and knowing how much of a spotlight their competitors are putting on women's wrestling, this was a situation that needed to come out in his favor.
It's come down to the wire with the announcement only taking place today and the event taking place tomorrow, but it was the best outcome for all members included. It's also worth noting that Tom Colohue of Sportskeeda even revealed that McMahon was the one pushing for this match a few days ago.
#1 The mounting pressure of the WWE Universe
Last week's episode of Monday Night Raw failed to feature any female wrestlers, the only stars who were part of the show were Zelina Vega as she partnered Andrade in his match against Sin Cara and Lana as her storyline with Rusev continued, but there was no wrestling.
This lead to quite a backlash from the WWE Universe, who thought that this was a trial run for WWE's trip to Saudi Arabia and because the women didn't currently have any intriguing storylines moving forward into Survivor Series.
Evolution kept the WWE Universe on their side in 2018, but there was no way to overcome how much pressure the company's fan base has put on them in recent weeks to push for the women to make history and be included in the event.
With everything that is going on in the world at present, it made sense for WWE to push for the women to be included and it appears that somehow they were able to make the breakthrough. Much like when Alexa Bliss battled Sasha Banks in Abu Dhabi, this match will go down in history and could be the start of change for the country.
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