Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[NintendoLogic]

It's entirely possible that Vince cut a deal on the sly while he was out, but that would mean the Saudis cut a check without conducting any kind of due diligence. Then again, they don't seem to care if their sportswashing enterprises actually run a profit. One thing's for sure: there's no way in hell Dwayne appears at Mania at this rate.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

What a company!

[Robert S]

5 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

Welcome to the party (est. 1984)!

Then. Now. Forever.

 

Together.

[ohtani's jacket]

They really should do this into a TV show.

 

[Al]

Regardless of what negotiations Vince had with the Saudis, I have to imagine it will take months to work everything out before a deal becomes official. 

[Embrodak]

At this point it seems like a lot of hot air, but I sure as shit am not watching or discussing WWE ever again if the fucking Saudi government buys it.

What a fucking swerve, though!

[Stiva]

When PIF bought Newcastle United, everything was in place and ready to go months before the final stumbling block (the Premier League concerned about piracy in Saudi) was removed. Once that was done, everything was rubber stamped in about 24 hours. Don’t be so sure that it’ll take a long time 

[Jmare007]

 

[Dav'oh]

Didn't sound like he was "telling wrestling journalists to F themselves". At fucking all. He mentions a deleted tweet. Bloke probably doesn't even know "wrestling journalist" is a legitimate (ahem) occupation.

[MoS]

2 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

 

The way the denials took so much time and have been worded makes me think that while the sale to Saudi is not closed, it definitely is going to happen. There's so much emphasis on "this point in time" and "lawyers and bankers will meet each other", as someone who reviews denials, official statements, public releases, contracts and legal agreements for a living, it makes me think that the two parties are definitely negotiating, and there is absolutely a meeting of the minds that WWE will be sold to Saudi Arabia, but the terms have not been finalised yet. If there was nothing to these rumours, the denial would have come out much earlier - we know better than to act like Vince McMahon goes to sleep at 10 PM and forgets about work - and would have been much more sweeping and unequivocal. Not so much of "we are exploring all options, nothing has been finalised, at this point in time there is no deal in place" etc. 

It reminds me of when UFC got sold. For months and months, there were rumours about the sale, but the Fertitas and Dana vehemently, repeatedly and consistently denied the sale was happening...right until they sent a press release about the sale. Even Sasha's contract last year for that matter. 

I do think some of the worrying in this thread is a bit overboard. Saudi has invested in Premier League teams and a lot of other places, and they have certainly not removed the women in power there or the Jewish/Syrian people working in such companies. Look at Newcastle.

They allowed women's matches to happen in Riyadh. The entire aim is to sportswash their evil empire, so they will not make any massive PR blunders like firing the women's division or Sami when he is in the middle of his career highlight. MBS wouldn't want the negative publicity emanating from that, especially after the nosedive his so-called progressive regime took after the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 

I don't want the Saudis to purchase WWE for a different reason. Not cuz it will hurt WWE's bottom line or record revenue or modus operandi - stock price actually jumped a couple of bucks after these rumours came to light - or because fans will boycott WWE - the promotion and its owners have already done many terrible things, and not only do many fans not get bothered by it, they actually idolise these people and make excuses for them - but because as rich as Vince is, MBS is 1000 times richer, and he is not hesitant about spending money. There is a great chance that he offers pretty much every talented wrestler and useful veteran like, generational wealth, tens of millions of dollars per year, just to remain contracted with WWE and not work anyplace else.

Think of WWE's strategy from 2018-2020, except on steroids. That would really kill all alternatives to WWE, including even AEW perhaps, or make them utterly meaningless. Very few wrestlers would refuse that kind of money.

We have seen that it was enough to get Shawn Michaels, for instance, to come out of retirement, to get Goldberg to work Saudi Arabia. Some people like Sami and Cena might refuse, but most would not. If I am Tony Khan, I really hope and pray that these rumours are not true. I believe it is, though.

[MoS]

8 minutes ago, Dav'oh said:

Didn't sound like he was "telling wrestling journalists to F themselves". At fucking all. He mentions a deleted tweet. Bloke probably doesn't even know "wrestling journalist" is a legitimate (ahem) occupation.

Also, like, being employed by CNBC isn't particularly better as far as credibility is concerned. 

Again, the MMA media was right about UFC being sold, even while they were mocked for even entertaining that idea. We should not forget history.  

[Embrodak]

As I said, the best indication that the Saudis are a real contender is that nobody else is *stupid* enough to buy a company that has been contracting in popularity for two decades and is basically coasting on the fact that live television has become more relatively lucrative to the declining industry of television production. The WWE network proved there weren’t enough interested subscribers to support the company just on streaming revenue, and let’s be real, by the time the savings they’d accrue not paying WWE media rights fees made up for the initial investment, we can probably anticipate that television advertising just isn’t going to be the cash cow that it is now. Advertising in general is frankly a snake oil industry due for a massive market correction at this point, but the proportion of the public that actually watches live television is only going to continue to shrink. NBC and Fox don’t want to be stuck figuring out how to make WWE a profitable live event company again as their relatively older fan base dies off, let’s be real. The Saudis are the only prospective buyers that are potentially removed enough from the Western media ecosystem not to be aware of these dynamics, and they’re also the only ones that can derive secondary and tertiary benefits from owning the WWE that have nothing to do with its profitability.

[Jmare007]

There's a very clear difference between "there's talks between sides" to "the deal is done". A very important journalistic difference mind you. I think the only one that was actually doing what they were supposed to do was SRS.

So yeah, the shitshow yesterday should be mocked and critized as most of the time wrestling "journalism" fucks up.

[El-P]

Whoever buys it next, Vince is running it, until he can't physically do it.

[MoS]

28 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

 I think the only one that was actually doing what they were supposed to do was SRS.

So yeah, the shitshow yesterday should be mocked and critized as most of the time wrestling "journalism" fucks up.

Really? I thought he was the least responsible; SRS was the one who reported it (for clicks?) before anyone confirmed it. But he reported this because before this breaking news, before his own admission, he had verified this, except, he apparently was just not right and had nothing favourable (for us hardcores) on record; as there were conflicting reports? So, am I jumping the shark and not waiting, if I say that he reported it cuz it drives his business up?

Say what you want about Meltzer and Keller, but they did not report this as news, and, like, if you listen to Meltz's radio, he was not going overboard, just talking about Steph's reaction and what happens to her and HHH. He mentioned the Saudis, but not in any kind of overwhelming way. 

[Jmare007]

Just now, MoS said:

Really? I thought he was the least responsible; SRS was the one who reported it (for clicks?) before it was confirmed. But he reported this before, before his own admission, he had verified this, except, he apparently had not right as there were conflicting reports? So, am I jumping the shark and not waiting, if I say that he reported it cuz it drives his business up?

Say what you want about Meltzer and Keller, but they did not report this as news, and, like, if you listen to Meltz's radio, he was not going overboard, just talking about Steph's reaction and what happens to her and HHH. He only mentioned the Saudis in a really casual, no-big-deal kind of way. 

All I read from SRS was him saying "the rumor is Saudi....there's no confirmation on anything on this matter". Basically was the first to tackle the rumor and say there was no one saying it was a done deal.

[NintendoLogic]

The only ones lending credence to the idea that a Saudi sale was imminent were no-name clout chasers. Still, the language used in the official denials is quite revealing.

No deal in place at this precise moment. It's untrue that they're near a deal. That would seem to indicate it's less a matter of if than when.

[Robert S]

All this reminds me that I finally have to watch the second (and third) season of Succession so that I know what the best mapping between Stephanie, Shane and HHH on the one side and Kendall, Roman, Shiv and Connor on the other side is.

[Timbo Slice]

Everyone is talking out the side of their mouths for deniability in some ways but also, Ariel and Brandon picking up on it given their sources means they’re trying to stabilize more than report. 
 

Again, unless it comes from an actual business outlet, I wouldn’t buy any report as more than rumors. This isn’t a backstage flare up or wrestler tantrum. This is the sale of a multi-billion dollar publicly-traded company. 

[Robert S]

2 hours ago, MoS said:

We have seen that it was enough to get Shawn Michaels, for instance, to come out of retirement, to get Goldberg to work Saudi Arabia. Some people like Sami and Cena might refuse, but most would not. If I am Tony Khan, I really hope and pray that these rumours are not true. I believe it is, though.

Like Cena refused to apologize for calling Taiwan a country?

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Robert S said:

Like Cena refused to apologize for calling Taiwan a country?

How dare you make light of Cena doing a Make-a-Wish for Xi Jinping ?

[C.S.]

11 hours ago, Champagne said:

The track record of wrestling "journalists" "reporting" on WWE news is pretty abysmal, so I'm going to need to see this confirmed by legitimate business news sources before I believe it.

This. This. Fucking this.

Once again, rasslin' "journalists" have completely, utterly, and thoroughly embarrassed themselves.

Anyone who pays a cent for Fightful Select (or whatever) is a complete fucking imbecile.

I'll wait for real reporters to report real news.

[NintendoLogic]

Something else to consider is that negotiations for new TV deals are set to begin soon. Big corporations for the most part have no problem doing business with the Saudis, but their involvement in sports and entertainment so far has been a one-way street where they pay big bucks to host events and buy teams. Taking Saudi money is one thing, but companies seem to draw the line at paying them for content, which is why LIV Golf has to buy air time.

[Jmare007]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

Something else to consider is that negotiations for new TV deals are set to begin soon. Big corporations for the most part have no problem doing business with the Saudis, but their involvement in sports and entertainment so far has been a one-way street where they pay big bucks to host events and buy teams. Taking Saudi money is one thing, but companies seem to draw the line at paying them for content, which is why LIV Golf has to buy air time.

We gotta wonder how much of that decision was based on LIV having zero value as a brand and relying completely on top golfers that don't really move the needle much in terms of ratings. If the Saudi PIF would've bought the PGA Tour, I don't think networks close their doors to them like they did LIV. Hell, if they would've gotten Tiger and Rory they would've most likely given them a deal too.

In this case, the Saudis would be buying wrestling's biggest brand, one that draws by itself, so I'm not sure they'd turn their backs like with LIV.

[ButchReedMark]

As a golfer and golf fan myself, I can only really see 5 events meaning anything to TV companies and that will never change. The 4 majors and the Ryder Cup. Saudi can do whatever they want trying to get LIV as a big thing, but nothing really matters a toss other than those five.

 

unless they buy Augusta Country Club or something it’s a busted flush.