FanPost

And Then There Was One: WWE Left Alone in Saudi Arabia

The most interesting storyline in WWE this week has been taking place mostly off-camera and is all too real. Of course, I’m talking about the controversy of WWE continuing to promote its Crown Jewel event scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 2nd against the backdrop of the disappearance and almost certain murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist, Saudi dissident, and American permanent resident Jamal Khashoggi at the direction of Saudi Arabian crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The story of Khashoggi’s disappearance, which occurred at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2nd, has only gotten worse with each passing day. Just yesterday the New York Times published an article in which a Turkish intelligence official recounted the gruesome details of Khashoggi's killing and dismemberment as captured on audio. Multiple reports have linked those suspected of perpetrating the killing to the crown prince otherwise known as MBS. Experts on the region have also been quick to point out that, in spite of his denials, nothing happens in the repressive regime without MBS' knowledge.

In response to what by all appearances looks to be a hit ordered by the Saudi leader on a vocal critic of his, business leaders like Virgin Group CEO Sir Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as well The New York Times, Financial Times, and CNBC all pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative Summit being hosted in Saudi Arabia as part of MBS’ Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. Those pull-outs happened within days of the news of Khashoggi’s likely murder.

That brings me back to WWE. Rather than pull out like the other businesses, the notoriously tight-lipped company remained mum and continued promoting their event as if nothing had happened. As the story began to unfold, WWE finally released an official statement last Wednesday: "We continue to monitor the situation". Though it was only six words, it was a tacit acknowledgement that they were beginning to feel the pressure especially given the fact that WWE has made not responding to controversy into an artform. Unfortunately, things worsened over the weekend. Four US senators, including both senators from WWE’s home state of Connecticut, urged WWE to pause their event. The Daily Beast’s Brandon Howard Thurston published a blistering article on WWE’s relationship with the ultraconservative kingdom on Saturday. Sunday night John Oliver skewered WWE on his HBO talk show Last Week Tonight. On Monday, Sports Illustrated, one of the ‘E’s favorite mainstream entities published an article on their website reporting that multiple superstars, all of whom wanted to be anonymous (probably out of fear of reprisal from a boss who has well-known vindictive streak), were uncomfortable performing in Saudi Arabia. That report backed up reporting from PW Insider over the weekend which said the same thing. By Monday night WWE had noticeably shifted their promotion of Crown Jewel. The webpages discussing the event no longer mentioned the location of the show and neither did commentators on each of the two television shows. WWE also released another statement on the matter specifically the discontent among wrestlers.

Thursday was not kind to WWE however as they were dealt two significant blows to what can only be described as their wait and see strategy of getting through this controversy. First, Treasury Secretary Steven (don’t call him Steve) Mnuchin pulled out of the aforementioned investment summit in Saudi Arabia. His was the first action anyone in the Trump administration took in response to the Khashoggi situation. More significantly, President Trump, who remains a WWE Hall of Famer despite making more consistently racist statements than Hulk Hogan, finally acknowledged that Khashoggi was almost certainly dead and came as close as he has all week to acknowledging the role MBS played in the murder. To be sure the administration’s shape-shifting position on the issue over the last week has provided WWE the cover they need to maintain their multimillion-dollar deal with Saudi Arabia in private while downplaying it publicly. Now that that cover is evaporating quickly, the question becomes what will WWE do? Logic would say now that the US government is pulling its representative out of the Saudi investment conference and getting ever closer to acknowledging the obvious in relation to Khashoggi’s death, WWE must move Crown Jewel out of the kingdom. It does not seem conceivable that Vince McMahon would want to be alone out on limb as the only high-profile business still working with the murderous dictator. There has been some speculation that WWE may not be able contractually disentangle themselves from the deal though that seems hard to believe given the reputation of their very shrewd attorney Jerry McDivitt.

This has already been a PR nightmare for a company obsessed with coverage by mainstream media and it can only get worse. Staying in Saudi Arabia could further alienate fans, several thousand of whom voiced their opinions when they loudly booed the Undertaker’s mention of Crown Jewel during his promo at the end of Smackdown 1000 on Tuesday night. The WWE needs to do the morally right and business smart move of taking Crown Jewel out of Saudi Arabia unless they truly believe that $40 million is worth their reputation.




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