WWE Hall of Famer Lita recently spoke with Ring The Belle and revealed that she was originally scheduled to go back home after her participation in the Women’s Royal Rumble last month. WWE then asked her if she’d like to face RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and the match was made for WWE Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia on February 19.
Lita also addressed previous comments she’d made about WWE working with Saudi Arabia. Back in May 2018, a year and a half before WWE’s first women’s match in Saudi Arabia, Lita spoke with WrestleZone and said WWE’s relationship with the Kingdom was a “direct conflict of interest” with their efforts to push women’s wrestling.
She said in May 2018, “I understand that they are a business, a global business and they are always looking to expand their global presence. However, I do feel this was a direct conflict of interest with them maintaining any integrity or truth to the fact that they say they would like to push forward women, their roles and their reputations in this business as anything resembling equal to a male,” Lita said in the May 2018 interview. Make the money, that’s fine, but don’t try to cover it up. Don’t say, ‘No, we are doing this because in the future we would like to help progress their culture forward!’ No, you want the money, you’re a business and businesses make money. That’s okay. From my perspective over here, I don’t own your business so that’s your call. From a PR perspective don’t say you are doing it because, ‘We want to help progress that culture forward.’ No, it’s a direct conflict of interest, in my opinion.”
In this new interview, seen below, Lita noted that wrestling in the Kingdom was an opportunity she wanted to take due to the fact that women can now wrestle there, and with positive experiences she’s heard from other talent.
She said, “So I will say I was outspoken on the early relationship between WWE and Saudi. ‘Oh, they say they want women to wrestle over there, but like, I don’t know if I believe it. There’s no women on this card.’ There’s women on the card [now] — and I’ve talked to the women personally that have been over there. And they’re like, ‘It’s unbelievable. There are women crying, never thinking they would get to see two women be so strong in the ring.’ They’re like, ‘It’s really powerful. You’re gonna enjoy that.’ And so, sure, do they have a long way to go? Do we as a society have a long way to go? Absolutely, but you’ve got to take the opportunities when they’re there.”
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