Saudi Arabia hosts women's wrestling for first time as WWE stars compete

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Saudi Arabia hosted its first-ever women’s wrestling match Thursday, featuring WWE stars Lacey Evans and Natalya.

Evans is a U.S. Marines veteran and Natalya is a Canadian-American two-time women’s WWE champ. They battled it out in Riyadh at the Crown Jewel tournament, and Natalya emerged victorious.

As the country has sought to distance itself from an oppressive human rights record, it has relaxed restrictions on both women and the entertainment industry. Still, the fighters wore full body suits and t-shirts to comply with Saudi requirements that visitors “dress modestly.”

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On October 10, the oil-rich kingdom announced it would allow women to join the military. A few days before it announced a man and a woman would be allowed to share a hotel room without proof of marriage. And in August, the kingdom finally allowed women to travel without the consent of a man. Previously a woman had to prove a man’s consent before she could obtain a passport or travel abroad.

In 2018, the Saudi Arabia lifted a longstanding ban against women driving cars. Though the kingdom has a long way to go before it can tout women’s equality. Many women’s activists have been imprisoned and put on trial after calling for change.

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Thursday’s WWE Crown Jewel event took place at the King Fahd International Stadium-- one of three stadiums in the kingdom women are even allowed inside.

Lacey Evans (red) fights against Natalya during the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Riyadh on October 31, 2019. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP) (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

"I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do the things I've done with WWE," Evans tweeted on Wednesday. "Tomorrow I get to show my little girl that hard work can bring you to history-making heights."

“Tonight proved dreams do come true and we can make this world a better place together,” Natalya tweeted.

WWE champions Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins also competed at the event, along with Mansoor al-Shehail, WWE's first Saudi wrestler.

“I couldn’t stop smiling when this was announced. When I speak about women driving, or even just sharing space with men, these are rights that didn’t exist when I was growing up,” tweeted al-Shehail.

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"I understand why it doesn't impress a lot of people, but it means the world to me and so many others.”