Following yesterday’s big WWE Greatest Royal Rumble pay-per-view at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Saudi Arabia, there’s been much talk on not just the female competitors not being allowed to perform, but also on the absence of Sami Zayn. Yesterday morning, it was noted that ‘The Underdog from the Underground’ would not be a part of the show despite stating he would be in the Greatest Royal Rumble Match this past Monday on RAW (which you can read here, plus Mitchell’s RAW Report here).

Yesterday evening, some other news outlets were reporting that Sami was in-fact given the option by WWE to perform and declined. This information was later said to be not correct. Now, reportedly Sami wasn’t given a choice, but rather was not booked for the show like the women were not. It should be noted that this has not been confirmed. Zayn is of Syrian descent, a country that Saudi Arabia had severed ties with back in 2012. It should also be noted Sami had not been in any advertising for the Greatest Royal Rumble and his comments on RAW were the first indication of any kind that he would be there (which you can check out here).

WWE issued the following statement regarding why Zayn did not make the trip:

“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world.”

EA’s Take: I’d honestly love to give you a good take on this, but quite frankly I’m not sure what to make of it all. It does seem like WWE held him back from going, at least that’s what I’m leaning towards right now because of WWE’s statement. Personally, I’m glad that I waited to get all of this out so that I could have as much information as possible. While other sites hurry to get things out and end up giving false info, we’re not about that life at The Chairshot.

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