The Disturbing Truth Behind Saudi Arabia Buying WWE

Here is as good a place as any to reiterate, explicitly, that this is awful, and the husk that has developed over the years shouldn't be ignored just because it is easier to ignore it. If you feel horrendous about all of this, raw, naive emotion isn't a bad thing. It's the best possible response. It's just difficult for some to feel that WWE has or will actually change for the worse.

So what happens next?

The other disturbing truth here is that little will change. The idea of WWE relocating to Saudi Arabia outright isn't happening because that isn't how sportswashing works. The idea is to present the facade of total normality, and then insidiously sneak in the messaging. You'll soon see certain shows sponsored by Saudi services. The Saudi events will obviously remain in place. Very, very slowly, the illusion of normality will creep in. This is cynical speculation, but it is phenomenally likely that WWE and the GSA always planned to promote women's wrestling as part of the project, but only held back initially to make it appear as though real progress had been made later. Again, this might be too cynical, but WWE didn't launch the arrangement by promoting an annual, canonical pay-per-view in Jeddah. That might have scanned as something all too real, too sacrilegious almost. They turned up the bullsh*t dial with a deliberately ridiculous event, the Greatest Royal Rumble, and waited a few years before you stopped giving a toss. Then they took Elimination Chamber there.

The moral implications of the deal will not radically alter WWE's business. That is the hope swelling in some online circles. Say there is outrage on the part of sponsors, and it's never real outrage. It's a reaction to pressure. If they start pulling away from WWE, it won't matter. The relationship with the KSA ensures that WWE will be self-sufficient to a degree so vast as to be profound. Newcastle United, owned by the PIF, are the richest club in world football, but are prevented from flashing that wealth because they are beholden to Financial Fair Play regulations. This is irrelevant in the case of WWE, which does not answer to a governing body.

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