There are those out there that would have thought that this day would never come. WWE was such a huge juggernaut itself, and we can’t forget that for the greater part of two decades, they were the only major game in town.
The incarnation of AEW changed that a tad, but others would argue that it was the business practices of Vince McMahon himself that would lead to the doorstep the company and its many fans find themselves at right now.
WWE is being sold…this was the reason for Vince McMahon’s return after all. This much is old news and is a sure thing, as per zillions of reports out there on the World Wide Web. To whom he is selling to remains a mystery, but the bidders are indeed huge…
With names like Disney, UFC, Netflix, ESPN, and even the Saudi Arabian Investors…and what more, even Tony Khan and his father (Shahid Rafiq Khan), the proud owners of the aforementioned AEW.
Now talk about circumstances that would shatter the realm of pro wrestling at its very core. These developments are huge and the lapsed fan, looking now at the business would be very shocked. For those of us paying attention, perhaps this is less of a shock.
Really the company—WWE—has been having trouble since the pandemic (arguably even before). Not financially, though. Financially the company has done well shockingly, despite not having live events for the greater part of that pandemic era.
But the product suffered severely regardless. Vince McMahon’s creative direction was rendered suddenly to a horrible product. The once considered creative genius had lost his magic somehow, and what came out later about his personal life and how he was allegedly using company funds to pay off women he had used for services of an indecent sort…that was tough on the company image as well.
But his retirement proved to be a very good thing, because once he did retire, the company improved, made money, ratings were even up, and all despite the former horrible headlines.
There are those perhaps that wouldn’t have even thought it possible that he would return after retiring, but return he did, and his daughter leaving the company also happened, which was yet another blow. It made no sense for him to return, but this seemed not to matter either.
But why? Why come back? And…perhaps more importantly, why sell? And why sell to Saudi Arabia, if that is still the intention? Well…because a sale to Saudi Arabia is the only way that the company can go private again. WWE went public at the turn of the century and has shareholders—this is of course why it’s considered a public company.
But owning a private company allows for all of the allegations that have been made against him to simply disintegrate into thin air, dear readers. This is his obsession with returning the company to a privately owned company status, so the Saudi Arabians are his best bet to do so.
Dave Meltzer pointed this out on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, as well as a plethora of other insights. The premiere pro wrestling journalist had a lot to say on the goings on, and this is one instant that caused me to pause and hit rewind, because in truth I hadn’t even thought about it by that point.
I was way too concerned with the fact that WWE was being sold and that Vince was back and creative—the really good creative—we’ve enjoyed over the last few months would be taken away from me. Were we really at the cusp of blasted contender’s matches again…pointless ones? Would stars like Mia Yim, Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky and Karrion Kross be taken away as well? This is what I was wondering.
So, Meltzer’s statement that Vince wants to sell and sell fast, and probably to an investor that would return his once privately owned company back to those shores, and all for the reason of making his legal issues sort of disappear, is an insight worth looking into.
via Wrestling Observer /YouTube
Which brings us to our next insight: The speed at which Vince is trying to sell the company. And although it may seem like a man walking through the trading room floor with holes in his pants and shoes, begging anyone to buy a suffering company, it isn’t the case at all. In fact, it’s the story of a man trying to save his bacon, and bad.
So per a piece published at Lutte Quebec, WWE has hired the legal and financial firm of quite a wee bit of renown, JP Morgan, and even The Raine Group, and all to facilitate the sale of the company ASAP. This man isn’t kidding around folks. JP Morgan is a heavy hitter in the financial world, and to use a Sami Zayn-ism…they’re certainly the big “Dawgs” of the financial realm.
A crazy time in professional wrestling for sure. And for those out there that watched Hogan slam Andre as little kids, who watched The British Bulldog defeat Brett Hart at Wembley Stadium as older kids, and who watched Stone Cold Steve Austin take his revenge out on the evil Vince McMahon…it’s in times like these that my heart truly and honestly goes out to you.
Because in the end, all you wanted was to enjoy the stories being told in a land of make-believe, which pro wrestling undoubtedly is…it’s a form of athletic theater of you will.
This…all of this is far too real to enjoy many would say. And I guess I’d have to agree. A future without the realm of WWE as we knew it once is hard to imagine, but yet it’s here at our doorstep—that possibility—and whatever happens next is likely to change the future of our beloved form of entertainment.
