All the usual names are vague-tweeting about huge news coming tonight. Smash that like and subscribe button, bro.

EDIT: kermit (insider that posts on wreddit) is saying the company has been sold and an announcement is coming.

Cassidy Haynes is saying the Saudis bought the company and it is going private.

He’s legit. If he’s saying this then it’s from a legit source. He rarely drops news but when he does it’s 100% fact.

Holy actual fuck.

Jan 11, 2023 3:06:55 GMT RT said:

All the usual names are vague-tweeting about huge news coming tonight. Smash that like and subscribe button, bro.

EDIT: kermit (insider that posts on wreddit) is saying the company has been sold and an announcement is coming.

Someone message me rumors the investors from Saudi Arabia buy WWE but not sure how true that is 

Jan 11, 2023 3:16:43 GMT RT said:

Cassidy Haynes is saying the Saudis bought the company and it is going private.

He’s legit. If he’s saying this then it’s from a legit source. He rarely drops news but when he does it’s 100% fact.

Holy actual fuck.

And you beat me to it I don’t know what to think of it or even if it’s a good thing 

Don't tell me this is how my 35 years of fan loyalty to this company ends.

There's no going back if this happens.

Vince selling WWE, and by extension, most of the history of American professional wrestling, to the fucking Saudi Royals, is such a perfect final act for one of the biggest pieces of shit who ever lived. 

Honor Club and NJPW World or one of them replacing over peacock that’s what I am going to do

Jan 11, 2023 3:34:22 GMT pduh said:

Honor Club and NJPW World or one of them replacing over peacock that’s what I am going to do

Is Stardom part of NJPW World?

Can’t wait to see Yokozuna dethrone Roman Reigns in KSA!

I've never watched a Saudi show, nor do I have any desire to do so... if that's true what little interest I have for the WWE goes out the door.

Jan 11, 2023 3:39:07 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Jan 11, 2023 3:34:22 GMT pduh said:

Honor Club and NJPW World or one of them replacing over peacock that’s what I am going to do

Is Stardom part of NJPW World?

I have no clue RT or Emperor might know the answer to your question 

Oh man Saudi Arabia buying the WWE is a disaster, I can see guys like Sami Zayn just flat out walk out on the spot and just head to AEW.

Saudi owning the WWE/WCW/ECW catalogs is bad news too, loads of censorship bound to happen, especially for the Attitude era.

Jan 11, 2023 3:39:07 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Jan 11, 2023 3:34:22 GMT pduh said:

Honor Club and NJPW World or one of them replacing over peacock that’s what I am going to do

Is Stardom part of NJPW World?

Jan 11, 2023 3:44:58 GMT pduh said:

Jan 11, 2023 3:39:07 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Is Stardom part of NJPW World?

I have no clue RT or Emperor might know the answer to your question 

Unfortunately no but there’s reason to believe that will change. Bushiroad owns both NJPW & Stardom and with the companies recently working together, the IWGP Women’s title being created, and the potential merger with Honor Club, there’s a good chance Stardom World leaves Youtube and joins them.

Jan 11, 2023 3:32:49 GMT Kilgore said:

Vince selling WWE, and by extension, most of the history of American professional wrestling, to the fucking Saudi Royals, is such a perfect final act for one of the biggest pieces of shit who ever lived. 

I’m actually stunned. Like we all knew he was going to fuck over his family but I fully expected him to sell to NBC/Universal and just cut his family out of the deal or something shitty like that. This is next level.

I’m not feeling very Ucey right now.

Wow

Not only is this bad for WWE, it's bad for the entire wrestling industry and it may never fully recover from this.

But I can see why Vince would go for it, if NBC, Disney, Amazon, etc. were to buy it, it seems unlikely they would want to go private or want/allow him to be in charge given all his scandals, whereas the Saudis don't seem like they'd care much.

The McMahon family drama > The Kardashians

This news is wild. I don’t even know what to say.

Jan 11, 2023 3:32:49 GMT Kilgore said:

Vince selling WWE, and by extension, most of the history of American professional wrestling, to the fucking Saudi Royals, is such a perfect final act for one of the biggest pieces of shit who ever lived. 

Think that is where this will end up though.  They fucking love wrestling and have more money than they know what to do with.  

Oh shit I missed it, reports are WWE was just sold to the Saudi Public Investment Fund.  In the rumors there will be a full stock buyout and the business will become private.

Also:

Finally, this means AEW is now the largest US wrestling fed. Tony fucking did it!!! He beat WWE!!! Sure it is technicality, but we will take it!!!

This is crazy news if it ends up true. I am very curious where WWE goes from here. Will they be hands off and just back WWE financially or will they have active input. If they have a say on day to day then the women's division could be toast. As well I can't see Sami and Kevin staying.

Mansoor dethrones Roman Reigns.

The moment this news becomes official, I'm cancelling the Network immediately.

Jan 11, 2023 5:14:22 GMT Mr. Canoe said:

This is crazy news if it ends up true. I am very curious where WWE goes from here. Will they be hands off and just back WWE financially or will they have active input. If they have a say on day to day then the women's division could be toast. As well I can't see Sami and Kevin staying.

I assume 30% to 50% quit immediately.  

Rumors so far are Vince will be put back in charge of creative, HHH will step down or leave entirely and Saudis will be relatively hands off but still have input.

Also rumors that the money offered was so high Vince could not turn it down.

SRS is live now talking about it and he’s his usual “nothing is confirmed, this could all be just to gauge the audience reaction,” self because he doesn’t actually know shit and doesn’t want to look stupid if he gets something wrong.

More credible sources saying this is happening is more accurate to me. Anyway there’s a thread getting updated on wreddit here if you want to follow along: reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/108vbqf/recap_of_srs_on_fightful_podcast_wwesaudi_rumors/

KEY POINTS

-doesn’t see how Sami or Kevin could stay after this. MVP too (he’s a Muslim turned atheist, which is illegal in Saudi Arabia)

-if Triple H leaves he will stay in the wrestling business. Speculates he would start his own promotion.

-Wrestlers he has talked to are really mad and he absolutely sees people walking over this.

-“what do you not have when Saudi Arabia owns your company? A female CEO.”

-thinks that some people are more upset about Vince taking back control than the Saudi ownership, which says a lot about how Vince is viewed by employees now.

-believes USA and Fox will have a problem with renewing TV deals. References the LIV Golf thing not getting any TV slots.

-says this would ruin prominent free agents from going to WWE. Mentions Jay White who is a free agent soon and would definitely have got an offer from Triple H.

Hope you all enjoy Golberg vs Brock for the next 20 years.

I don't know where this will leave the women's division is the Saudi's are at the helm. Crazy.

Run KO, RUN!!!!

Nick Khan also would be out after this, as his sole role was to prep the company for sale. If sold he gets massive bonus and walks.

As for this being just talk before it surfaced everyone was reporting they were hearing massive news was about to break.

For TV deals, they will not cancel WWE as WWE, unlike golf, gets ratings. They may not get what they were getting, but they still will get picked up.  No really gave a shit about Trump golf which is why it did not get picked up.

Other considerations. If they did agree to sell, they are not doing any due diligence, and this deal was being worked on behind the scenes for a while.

Some are reporting a bit of misinformation.  Vince controls a majority (81%) of voting shares, so it is really his approval he needs for the sale.  FEC approval likely does not apply since the buyer is not American as well, nor would this be in any form anti-competitive to the world of fighting sports or entertainment.  It is also said to be a cash sale.