With news breaking that WWE's next Saudi show will take place in February, even more Superstars have reportedly requested not to make the trip.
WWE's deal has with Saudi Arabia has been controversial since day one. Between women not being allowed to compete on the shows, barring one match at the last event, to Superstars being stranded in the country, the relationship has been nothing but trouble. The bad news for fans who don't enjoy the show is that there appears to be no end in sight for this deal.
This week, reports have been circulating that WWE will return to Saudi Arabia sooner than many might have thought. As earlier as February 20, 2020, in fact, although, other sites have reported that the show won't take place until February 27. Either way, it seems as if WWE will be paying the Middle East another visit well before WrestleMania this year rather than after it like it usually does.
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The worrying thing for WWE and its continued relationship with Saudi Arabia is the Superstars who are unwilling or simply can't make the trip. Daniel Bryan, John Cena, and Kevin Owens are on the list of people who no longer want to wrestle in the country. Sami Zayn and Aleister Black are on that same list because they can't wrestle there.
Thanks to the travel issues during the last trip, that list is now even longer. According to WrestlingNews.co, there are (at least) two more wrestlers on that list. A number of Superstars posted thinly-veiled tweets during the whole debacle claiming they would never return, including Buddy Murphy and Rusev. Rusev said he would "definitely" return to Saudi Arabia, but we're assuming he was being sarcastic.
Add that ever-growing list to the fact that WWE can't have more than two women at a time on the show at the moment, and it might have a problem. On the bright side, if the list really is as long as it seems, should the same travel issues happen again, at least there will be plenty of Superstars back in the US to compete on SmackDown.