"That was requested from the Saudi prince" - Details on infamous WWE moment at Saudi Arabia show
Former WWE Superstar Ariya Daivari has discussed the infamous segment from the Greatest Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia, where he and his brother cut a promo and waved the Iranian flag. He even revealed whose idea it was.
Ariya Daivari and his brother Shawn interrupted the introduction of four Saudi WWE prospects in front of their home crowd and cut a heel promo in Jeddah, before being dispatched by the prospects. Among them was current WWE RAW Superstar Mansoor.
Speaking on The Wrestling Inc. Daily, the former 205 Live star discussed the segment and revealed that he was told it was the Saudi Prince's idea. Due to the level of the request and his position on the card in WWE, Daivari couldn't refuse the idea:
“From what I was told, that was requested from the Saudi Prince. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. He booked the show. At the end of the day, it was his idea, and for me, particularly being fairly new at the time, you’re not gonna say no to stuff," said Daivari. "All this Saudi stuff was a big deal. It was a big-money deal. Backstage, they made it seem like how important these Saudi shows are to the company. They’re doing the very first one, and as a cruiserweight, I’m not gonna be like, ‘No, I’m not doing this type of thing.’ You just kind of have to do what you’re told or at least that’s how I felt about it,” he added.
Ariya Daivari also mentioned that he was not medically cleared to compete during the segment at Greatest Royal Rumble. That's why Shawn took all the bumps from the Saudi WWE prospects.
Ariya Daivari received death threats after the infamous segment at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble
The segment was surrounded by controversy, because of the troubled past between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two Middle Eastern powerhouses have been in conflict for decades, involving various proxy wars, and it remains ongoing today.
Ariya Daivari never wanted to offend anybody through wrestling and remains apologetic over what happened at Greatest Royal Rumble.
“I really care about wrestling. I really care about my work. I don’t want to offend anybody or stuff like that." Daivari continued," That was why I took it upon myself to put out that apology. Nobody told me to do it. The company didn’t ask me. I was gonna do it myself. I wanted to make it right."
“The only part that I take partial blame for is just being uneducated on how big the tensions are between Iran and Saudi Arabia. I didn’t know this one was such a big deal that it was really gonna offend a lot of people in those countries. That was why, like I said, I put out that apology because if this is one of those things that people are truly upset about, then, again, I apologize. We definitely shouldn’t have done that,” Daivari concluded.
Daivari was released from WWE on June 25th, having spent five years with the company.