Last year, WWE held a historic pay-per-view in the form of Evolution — the company’s first all-women’s wrestling extravaganza. The show, which saw Nikki Bella take on Ronda Rousey in the main event, was well received among wrestling fans and the media.
However, Evolution has been noticeably missing from this year’s WWE pay-per-view calendar, which has left many fans wondering if the event was a one-off.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter ‘s Dave Meltzer, per WrestleTalk , the reason why WWE hasn’t hosted another Evolution event — or any big women’s show — since then is due to the absence of one of the company’s biggest female stars.
“I think that there’s a fear that without Ronda [Rousey] then maybe, but whatever reason if they do or don’t do that pay-per-view that is a purely economic business decision either way they go. This is not a moral issue if they don’t do an all-women pay-per-view, okay?” Meltzer explained.
Meltzer also states that WWE is only interested in making money, and Evolution ‘s alleged poor financial performance has postponed more events for the time being.
Given that the company is seemingly disinterested in putting on another women’s event — while they still continue to put on shows in Saudi Arabia, despite the bad press — Meltzer believes that the company isn’t really championing women’s wrestling.
“Obviously, it wasn’t so great business-wise because they didn’t put it on the schedule this year, but the fact that you want to be a champion in women’s sports and you make a deal with Saudi Arabia you don’t have the courage or convictions.”
Meltzer’s not the only person to share this opinion. The announcement of last year’s Evolution pay-per-view arrived amid a negative backlash against the company for working with the Saudi Arabian government.
The real reason we haven’t had a second Evolution pay-per-view in 2019 might have just been revealed: https://t.co/Y9ys8dqLqy
— WrestleTalk News (@WrestleTalk_TV) August 17, 2019
Since laws on the Middle Eastern country prohibit women’s rights, WWE’s female roster hasn’t been able to perform at the profitable events — which is why the women wrestlers supposedly received their own pay-per-view.
If this theory is correct, then there’s reason to believe that WWE isn’t sincere about treating its women wrestlers equally. But there are rumors floating around that they might dedicate one of their flagship shows to the female roster for a special episode.
Per The Inquisitr , WWE’s next Saudi Arabian show could potentially interfere with a SmackDown Live taping, which has led to some rumblings that the company will dedicate an episode of the blue brand show to female performers.
At the time of this writing, however, it’s unclear what WWE’s plans are.
