Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: saudi arabia, Vince McMahon, wrestling, wwe
Rumors Saudi Arabia Bought WWE Are Reportedly Untrue… For Now
Rumors a deal is done to sell WWE to Saudi Arabia are reportedly untrue as of this writing, though that doesn't mean the deal won't happen.
Last night, the wrestling world was rocked to its foundations by a late-night rumor claiming a deal to sell WWE to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund was a done deal. That alone was remarkable, considering WWE has been rocked to its foundations already multiple times in the last week, starting with Vince McMahon's return to power, news that he intends to sell the company, and then Stephanie McMahon's resignation from the company. The news came primarily from two sources: BodySlam.net's Cassidy Haynes and DAZN's Steven Muehlhausen. This morning, however, other sources, including TMZ and MMA reporter Ariel Helwani, have reported that the deal is not, in fact, done.
Here's a look at Helwani's tweet from earlier today offering an update:
Also, for what it's worth, Muehlhausen has since deleted his tweets, though Haynes and Bodyslam have continued to run with the story, with Haynes retweeting a comment from Dave Meltzer cautioning against taking the word of company denials in the lead-up to a sale.
Meltzer, who ran a special episode of the Wrestling Observer podcast last night to address the rumors, has backed up Helwani in reporting that no deal is in place… right now.
So is Saudi Arabia buying WWE, or not? The way things are going, we could find out today, or we could find out weeks from now. No one has disputed that Saudi Arabia is in the running for buying the company, nor that they could be the ones to ultimately do it, only that no deal is in place yet. There are likely multiple suitors to purchase WWE, though it wouldn't be a stretch to believe Saudi Arabia would be willing to offer more than most, as the country's Public Investment Fund has different goals than entertainment conglomerates like Comcast or Disney. Either way, we'll have to wait and see, and Bleeding Cool will certainly be keeping an eye on this one.