Lita Calls Out WWE For Their Handling Of Women At The Greatest Royal Rumble

The Greatest Royal Rumble has been touted by WWE as a commercial successs and it's hard to argue with dollars and sense. The New York Post says that WWE was paid a staggering $70 million to put on the event by Saudi Arabia, and when you are a business like WWE, turning a profit is all that matters.

But while the show was a financial success, that doesn't mean it was seen as a great accomplishment in the mind of the public. WWE dealt with several controversial issues related to The Greatest Royal Rumble from political reasons for WWE Superstars not appearing to the expected backlash from not having its Women's Superstars compete.

The latter of those drew the ire of Hall of Famer, Lita, who called WWE's decision to not include women a "direct conflict of interest." Lita spoke with Wrestlezone Radio where she called out her former employer for their hypocrisy regarding women and The Greatest Royal Rumble.

"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.

"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."

It's unlikely that even a company like WWE could influence an entire country like Saudi Arabia to change its laws regarding women, so WWE acting as if they are social justice warriors comes off as a farce. As Lita said, they did the deal with Saudi Arabia for the money and people would be more willing to accept that reason than the one Triple H gave where he said he wanted to shift the entire culture of the country.

This is just Year 1 of a 10-year deal between WWE and Saudi Arabia. Chances are nothing will have changed by the next time WWE visits the company or maybe not even when we reach Year 10. However, WWE should stop pushing the narrative that they are working with Saudi Arabia to change their culture, and the sooner they do that, the sooner their own Legends will stop bashing their reasoning.