WWE's Greatest Royal Rumble Delivers an Over-the-Top, Troublesome Spectacle

World Wrestling Entertainment's inaugural foray into Saudi Arabia happened Friday. It took place in Jeddah. It was called the Greatest Royal Rumble.

And it was weird.

It's hard to know what to make of the event as a whole. It was the result of a 10-year deal between WWE and the Saudi Arabian government, part of a push by the government to change the perception of the kingdom worldwide. WWE held up its end of the deal over the past week, with its Superstars glowing radiantly on social media about the beauty of the city and just how incredible everything is. It ran endless commercials for the event, which it does for every major event on its schedule. The difference, of course, was that the commercials were designed to promote the city and the country—not just the event.

Live, from beautiful Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Amr Nabil/Associated Press

Even the show title was over the top. This wasn't just your normal yearly Royal Rumble. No, this was the Greatest Royal Rumble. Better than all the other Royal Rumbles that came before it. And instead of 30 men entering the ring, it was 50.

When the show kicked off with a match between Triple H and John Cena, well, you wouldn't have been far off to say it looked a lot like WrestleMania. The massive stadium. The huge stage. The lights. The giant tent-like structure high above the ring, adorned with video boards and hundreds of lights. It was every bit the production WrestleMania is and perhaps even larger; the pyrotechnics for the Greatest Royal Rumble blew away anything WWE has done at its hallmark event in quite some time.

And the fireworks? Talk about over the top. There were multiple fireworks shows exploding high above the stadium. And not just for the end of the show, the way WWE does. No, these fireworks happened during wrestler entrances, starting at the beginning and going until the end.

After Braun Strowman won the Greatest Royal Rumble match, he was presented with a giant (and expensive-looking) trophy and a new green leather and red-plated championship belt that WWE commissioned just for the occasion.

The show was an incredible production. The crowd was hot for most of the event, reacting much in the same way other crowds around the world react to the roster of WWE stars. It was unprecedented, and it was memorable.

Amr Nabil/Associated Press

But it was also strange and troubling, in more ways than one.

The absence of any female performers was the elephant in the room, of course. For a company that pats itself on the back for being at the forefront of the women's revolution, WWE's willingness to keep its roster of female wrestlers on the sideline in keeping with strict Saudi customs was mind-blowing.

Sure, it's getting a lot of money from the deal, and it's never a good idea to barge into a new place and tell those who live there that their traditions are wrong and you don't care about respecting them. If WWE were a company that struggled to break even every year, we might be more understanding of its reluctance to turn such a huge offer down.

But the truth is that WWE is a highly profitable company, and this would have been a perfect chance to actually be at the forefront of the women's revolution. Instead, it'll keep paying lip service to itself after keeping the excellent female performers on its roster hidden so as not to break with what many consider outdated and shameful customs.

Oh, and you know how Finn Balor has been wearing rainbow tights, promoting inclusivity and telling the world that the Balor Club is for everyone? Turns out the Balor Club is for everyone—unless you're in Saudi Arabia. His rainbow tights were gone, and there was nary a mention of inclusivity, because Saudi Arabia has one of the worst LGBT records in the world. It's illegal to be gay in Saudi Arabia, and transgressors are punished with everything from fines to torture to death. And WWE willingly went along with it, because it got money from the government.

As disappointing as all that is, you can't say the show didn't deliver a memorable experience. Brock Lesnar beat Roman Reigns again, which is roughly the 35th time Lesnar has beaten Reigns over the past four years. The ladder match for the intercontinental title (retained by Seth Rollins) and the WWE championship match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura both delivered excellent in-ring action.

And the event featured a bunch of surprises. Titus O'Neil tripped during his entrance, flying 15 feet and landing underneath the ring in one of the greatest things I've ever seen in professional wrestling.

The Greatest Royal Rumble, all five hours of it, may have lived up to its billing. It was problematic, sure, and it will be problematic every time the WWE returns to the kingdom in the future. But it was an entertaining watch, and it was the kind of spectacle fans appreciate from their pro wrestling.

Not bad for a Friday afternoon.