7 Possible Consequences If WWE Crown Jewel Goes Ahead

3. Brand Damage

Smackdown Cancelled
WWE

The most marketable superstar in WWE today is not one of their actual performers, but the brand. The business model no longer depends on catching the proverbial lightning in a bottle when a new megastar such as The Rock or Steve Austin pops wrestling's bubble and penetrates mainstream popular culture. Instead, it's the very letters 'WWE' which count, and upon which the entire business depends.

After spending so many years positioning the WWE name to effectively self-generate cash regardless of the quality of the content, company VPs Michelle Wilson and George Barrios must be gritting their teeth over Vince McMahon's decision to forge ahead with the GSA partnership - assuming the two weren't directly complicit.

In openly accepting the Saudi government's institutionalised misogyny, The Greatest Royal Rumble propaganda piece made a complete mockery of WWE's vaunted social consciousness, tarnishing the brand's integrity in the process. Further endorsing a regime now shown to the world to be brutally repressing basic human freedoms could damage it irrevocably. The company will become pariahs within their industry in the same suit as those who failed to boycott South Africa during apartheid. It's brand suicide.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.