Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[JRH]

They're trying to make WWE like boxing or UFC where only the big shots have enough money to attend, but by doing this, they're also pricing out the kids (who are the next generation of fans) and families. I pointed out on the AEW board that AEW needs to counteract this by not just courting the 18-49 crowd, but also try to attract kids and families as well.

[El-P]

Athletes in general are really dumb as fuck, you know.

Anyway, it's official. Mania 43 in beautiful, progressive Riyadh.

No Effy's Big Gay Brunch during that Mania week, I reckon.

[El-P]

So much joy in that picture. 

Stephanie Vaquer is leaving the dream, after standing next to the AAA officials who supported the person who tried to murder her and the people who harassed her, now she realizes that her "English class" was actually learning to speak propaganda. 

Meanwhile, Brandon Thurston in all his sarcastic glory :

https://www.postwrestling.com/2025/09/12/opinion-i-hate-politics-thats-why-im-going-to-love-wrestlemania-in-saudi-arabia/

 

[The Thread Killer]

I was morbidly curious regarding when Mark Shapiro's colossal stupidity was going to start to affect WWE, and it seems last week was a prime example of what is to come.

Firstly, the moron gives that interview where he basically says that WWE needs to raise their ticket prices, because when Vince McMahon was in charge, WWE was catering their live event ticket prices to families, and TKO wants to see WWE ticket prices brought more in line with UFC prices.

Lets ignore that clip that went viral last week of a fan complaining to Nick Khan that ticket prices were getting too high. On it's face, that interview was ridiculous for two reasons.  Firstly, we all know that the only thing TKO cares about is maximizing profits above all else. They have demonstrated that repeatedly since the takeover.  But even somebody with a Business Diploma from a Community College could tell you...you don't actually SAY THAT IN INTERVIEWS, not if you want to be seen as a fan friendly organization.  All major corporations want to maximize their profits (especially those that have shareholders) but 99.9% of them aren't stupid enough to basically announce that they don't plan on being affordable for families. It's bad enough when you're a money hungry, greedy blood sucking corporation, you should at least do the fans the service of pretending that you care about your customer base.

This leads to my second point, which I've said previously here at PWO...

Mark Shapiro is so stupid that he literally doesn't differentiate between the UFC and WWE fanbase.  Apparently either TKO is either the only major live event business that doesn't do market research (highly unlikely) or Mark Shapiro doesn't read the research, or even worse, he doesn't understand it. (Much more likely.)

Just look at the crowd shots during WWE TV and PLE's.  It's packed full of families, and kids. Then look at the crowd at your average UFC show.  Dudebros. Lots and lots of single men (or men with girlfriends/wives but no kids, who presumably have lots of disposable income.)  You can't assume that just because dudebros will fork out literally thousands of dollars for a UFC PPV ticket, that some poor middle or working class family is going to be willing to do the same thing. Especially when the families spend a ton of money on merchandise at these shows.

So we had barely gotten past that ridiculous nonsense, when TKO announces they are doing Wrestlemania in Saudi Arabia. Like everybody else, I have read all the speculation that the Saudis are paying $100 Million to TKO to make this happen. Which makes sense, because when you factor in moving the entire dog-and-pony show over there for Wrestlemania week, it's crazy. They're doing the Friday SmackDown, both nights of Wrestlemania, and the RAW after Wrestlemania, all in Saudi Arabia.  The expense of all that alone must be enormous. Today, a couple of sites reported that the figure TKO is getting is closer to $250 Million, and as insane as that sounds...I totally believe it.  The Saudis have the money, and I can see TKO insisting on a price this high to make it happen.

Never mind the optics from a political standpoint of doing a show with the Saudis.  That point has been made and remade and beaten to death, and lets be honest, that horse has left the barn.  WWE and the Saudis are in bed together now, with both legs under the covers, and that's not going to change.

My main interest is how this decision is going to come across to the WWE fanbase. As we all know, WWE has pretty much trained their hardcore fans to eat whatever shit they serve up, and act like it tastes like chocolate cake.  But this decision, coming right on the heels of the announcement about ticket prices going up could start to upset even the most apologetic of hardcore WWE marks.  Over the past couple of days I saw footage on Twitter of some fans vocally booing this announcement at the actual press conference, and when it was recapped at the AAA show on Friday night, there were audible "You Sold Out" chants.

Between jacking up ticket prices in the least diplomatic way possible, and moving their flagship event to Saudi Arabia, TKO/WWE is basically giving even their most ardent fans the middle finger. I'm legitimately curious about how the fans are going to take it.  Add to that all the stories that are circulating that the Saudis actually tried to buy WWE before the Endeavor deal, and that they are still interested in acquiring them even after the formation of TKO?  Yeesh.

[DMJ]

Whether the Saudi government ever outright owns the WWE is sort of a moot point if the company's number one benefactor/backer/sponsor is the Saudi government.

In a book I can't recall the name of, the author makes a similar point about the stars of the NBA. Sure, to most sports fans, we'd consider the Lakers franchise to be LeBron's boss. But they're not. His contract with Nike is way more lucrative. He makes more from Pepsi than he does from the Lakers. These are the companies Lebron actually works for. 

The more money the Saudis invest into the company, to put on shows there, to make Saudi Arabia the "global capital" of the WWE brand, to use it as a PR tool, the more the WWE's number one boss becomes Saudi Arabia. And I do think, in time, we're going to see even more noticeable effects from it beyond just the major shows being held there. 

[Sweet Brown Koko]

14 hours ago, DMJ said:

Whether the Saudi government ever outright owns the WWE is sort of a moot point if the company's number one benefactor/backer/sponsor is the Saudi government.

In a book I can't recall the name of, the author makes a similar point about the stars of the NBA. Sure, to most sports fans, we'd consider the Lakers franchise to be LeBron's boss. But they're not. His contract with Nike is way more lucrative. He makes more from Pepsi than he does from the Lakers. These are the companies Lebron actually works for. 

The more money the Saudis invest into the company, to put on shows there, to make Saudi Arabia the "global capital" of the WWE brand, to use it as a PR tool, the more the WWE's number one boss becomes Saudi Arabia. And I do think, in time, we're going to see even more noticeable effects from it beyond just the major shows being held there. 

Was the book LeBron Inc.??

[sek69]

Considering how much they get paid for random ass PLEs (not even counting Rumbles and Wrestlemanias), you can make the argument that the Saudis have been their bosses for a while now. 

Speaking of TKO putting profits over everything else, anyone else hear how the reason John Cena's retirement tour isn't having the storybook ending in his hometown? Because Boston wouldn't fork over the event fees WWE was asking for to do a week of shows.