10 Mistakes WWE Never Recovered From

1. Saudi Arabia

Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, WrestleMania 17
WWE.com

Where to begin with this shower of sh*t? WWE has made mountains of money by running shows in Saudi Arabia, but the damage done to the company’s reputation is nigh on irreparable. When Stone Cold turned heel and sided with Vince McMahon at the end of WrestleMania X-Seven, it was framed as Austin doing a deal with the devil in order to stay on top. It was a business failure, but it was at least a creative decision made in a world of, for want of a better word, fiction.

By accepting the mountains of blood money on offer from Riyadh, WWE has done the real-life version of that. The shows have been a PR nightmare for the company, with major media outlets jumping on the move and correctly framing it as further evidence that WWE is morally bankrupt. The second of these shows took place soon after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, with WWE drawing criticism from both sides of the political divide in the US. Yes, Republicans and Democrats agreed on something, and that something was that WWE shouldn’t be running shows in Saudi Arabia.

WWE carried on regardless and has continued to do so in the years since. All this without mentioning the infamous grounded plane incident, another major stain on the bruised face of a company. The Saudi shows have made mountains of money for the company, but they have also been the final straw for many fans, gift-wrapping other wrestling promotions a desperate audience in the process.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.