Corey Graves has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, but the WWE commentator might have found himself in some trouble over some recent comments.
Graves took to Instagram back on April 29 after he and the rest of the WWE male roster returned from their overseas trip to Saudi Arabia for the Greatest Royal Rumble event. His photo was of a can and glass of beer, and his caption referenced how there was no drinking allowed back in Saudi Arabia.
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“A drink to remember that no matter how bad WE think we have it, at least our women have rights and we all have freedom of expression,” Graves wrote.
Well according to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, the WWE brass wasn’t happy with Graves’ jab at the country he’d just been to.
“It was noted to us that his feelings were understandable but that his statement should have been made privately,” Meltzer said. “There were also people noting that he’s more replaceable than he thinks he is.”
WWE’s recent business with the Middle Eastern nation, while incredibly profitable, hasn’t come without a number of controversies. For starters, none of the women were allowed to wrestle on the show due to the country’s laws. The rule was so strict that the General Sports Authority had to issue an apology when Carmella popped up on the Titantron during WWE’s “Best of Both Worlds” promo for dual-branded pay-per-views.
“The General Sports 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 committee said in a statement.
“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.”
On top of that, there were reports that Sami Zayn was not allowed to travel with the roster due to his Serbian heritage and that the Daivari Brothers received death threats over waiving an Iranian flag and berating Saudi wrestlers during a segment at Greatest Royal Rumble.
Triple H explained his reasoning for why the company went ahead with the show despite the controversy (which at the time was just about women not being allowed to wrestle.
“You can’t dictate to a country or a religion about how they handle things but, having said that, WWE is at the forefront of a women’s evolution in the world and what you can’t do is affect change anywhere by staying away from it,” he said in an interview with The Independent.
Regardless of any of the controversies, WWE is already rumored to be planning on a return trip to Saudi Arabia in November.
Photo: WWE.com
