Cena, 'you are not welcome in Saudi'

A well-known Saudi newspaper columnist on Thursday attacked plans to stage wrestling in the conservative Gulf Kingdom and singled out John Cena in his tirade, saying the famous world wrestler is not welcome in Saudi Arabia.

Khaled Al Suleiman, who writes in the mass circulation Arabic language daily Okaz and other Saudi newspapers, was reacting to an announcement by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that it has agreed that some of its wrestling superstars travel to Saudi Arabia in February to stage tournaments.

Besides Cena, key wrestlers who will come to the Kingdom include WWE Champion Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Ryback and Kofi Kingston.

“John Cena…you are not welcome here…a few years ago I could have said you are welcome but my bitter experience with my children and their obsession with John Cena have made me loathsome to the idea of his coming…to stop him from coming, I am even ready to face him in the ring although such an idea is suicidal,” he said.

“Over the past years, my home has been turned into a wrestling ring where human bodies fly around and pillows are thrown all over as screams do not stop as if my home became Madison Square in New York…during those years, the shelves, walls and drawers in my home have been filled with pictures of wrestlers and their frightening bodies…now they are coming to control our minds at our home…you are not welcome…what we, adults and children, need is not a wrestling ring to engage in savage and horrifying fights, but a stage where all the talented compete to demonstrate their human skills and nature not savagery.”

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