Notes On How Saudi Fans Reacted To Goldberg And Brock Lesnar's Wins, Mansoor Getting Booed
Many WWE fans weren't accepting of Goldberg taking the Universal Title from The Fiend at Super Showdown, whether those fans were in the United States or over in Saudi Arabia. Mr. King, a prominent Saudi Arabian journalist, discussed Goldberg, who is Jewish, going over The Fiend when King joined The Wrestling Inc Daily.
"We don't care if he is Jewish or Christian or anything. We care about Goldberg," said King. "I was one of the guys really shocked at the result of that match. I was really sad and I mean really sad. I remember talking in my podcast before the show about how before WrestleMania 33, Goldberg took the title from Kevin Owens. Please don't do that again.
"I felt that The Fiend losing ? and I totally understand the huge star Goldberg is ? but The Fiend is at the time in his career where he's doing something we haven't seen in years. I was really shocked and was one of the people saying 'Refund' after the match. I was mad about that and I maybe said the F-word a couple of times.
"There were a lot of people actually happy about Goldberg's win and they were making jokes on me because I was really sad. ?I was imagining The Fiend's entrance with the Universal Title at WrestleMania so I was really sad and I'm still sad."
Another match that wasn't received well was Brock Lesnar's 90-second defeat of Ricochet. King talked about why he had big expectations for that match before being disappointed.
"I thought that maybe we need to give Ricochet a chance. In my opinion, Lesnar can do huge matches with cruiserweights like Finn Balor and AJ Styles, so he will do a great match with Ricochet," said King. "So, I said give them maybe 5-10 minutes, but Ricochet got squashed. I was really disappointed but I wasn't surprised because everyone was really happy with Lesnar getting the win that fast. For me and some of my friends, we said they wasted a match that could have been one of the best matches on that show. But they just squashed it and it wasn't good enough to be watched.
"I think they should make that match again because Ricochet has a lot of talent. I remember his road to WWE from PWG to Lucha Underground to NXT. I thought this person needs a chance but that didn't happen. I was really disappointed but not surprised."
Mansoor of NXT is from Saudi Arabia but he didn't receive the reaction many expected. King was asked about the fans booing him after his win over Dolph Ziggler.
"It was really good but some people were actually booing him. I asked, 'Why are you booing that guy when he's performing in his hometown?' They were saying he's actually not good enough. I said, 'No, this guy is in his hometown and we need to support him.' They understand the talent that Mansoor has but they just want to stand against him. That's just a negative thing and is totally wrong," said King who was in the "Mansoor Section" and was proud to support him.
King was then asked if the WWE shows get attention from non-pro wrestling Saudi outlets.
"Absolutely. The first show got the main [coverage] and it's getting lesser, but they still talk about it. The big channels, magazines, papers and websites are really interested in the business," stated King. "Before WWE started the shows in Saudi Arabia, some channels and newspapers weren't into the business. So, we would see or read wrong information, but now we are reading the right information. They learned about the business and understand it more. We are getting better reporting of wrestling."
Mr. King runs WrestlingAC.com. You can follow him on Twitter @98MrKing.
Mr. King's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: