10 Times WWE Got Its Ass Kicked

7. Partnering With Saudi Arabia

The WWE relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one that has opened WWE up to getting beaten down from several different angles - and there is rightly serious questions to be asked over WWE's willingness to work with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Firstly, the media and public backlash to this arrangement was huge, and that was only intensified after the atrocities of the Jamal Khashoggi murder. Many perceived this agreement as WWE making a deal with the devil, while WWE only had eyes for the Scrooge McDuck levels of money on the table.

It's not just fans and media outlets who find WWE's Saudi Arabia deal questionable, mind, for some of WWE's own shareholders have taken umbrage with the arrangement. Just this past March a group of these shareholders put together a class action lawsuit against WWE based around the organisation's Saudi Arabia commitments.

According to this group, the WWE "made false and misleading statements" relating to the Saudi deal, failed to disclose information on financial issues with Saudi Arabia, and the knock-on effect of this was said to have damaged the value of WWE stock. Similarly, this lawsuit also wanted a valid explanation as to why former co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson were fired earlier in the year.

At the end of the day though, while WWE constantly gets lambasted for its relationship with Saudi Arabia, we all know that Vince McMahon and WWE brass will happily put up with any vitriol that comes their way so long as they're pulling in that sweet Saudi payday.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

See more from Andrew