WWE Denies Saudi Arabia Rumours, Takeover In Doubt?

Major new twist in WWE/Saudi Arabia sale story - is the takeover deal OFF? Was it ever even on?!

Vince McMahon Saudi Arabia
WWE

WWE is now not being sold to the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund...or at very least, there's no clear confirmation of it anymore. Not yet, anyway.

Confused? So's everybody else in the space it seems. The latest dramatic twist in the WWE sale tale has found various reputable reporters noting that last night's breaking news maybe wasn't news at all, noting that the original sourced tweet from DAZN's Steven Muehlhausen has been deleted along with rubbish rumours of a sale themselves.

Tweets from Rich Greenfield of Light Shed, Wrestlenomics' Brandon Thurston and Ariel Helwani have all poured cold water on the news, with only the latter commenting that the story is even "developing" or still on the table, rather than off entirely.

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Per the original tweet and various follow-ups after the fact, the deal was as good as done earlier today, but this has thrown everything back to the speculative stages.

To recap; the Saudi PIF emerged as potential buyers for WWE last week, when Vince McMahon returned to the promotion stating his desire to engineer an advantageous new media rights deal with the company, with the accompanying Wall Street Journal report noting the 77-year-old's intention to sell the promotion. Bryan Alvarez foreshadowed Muehlhausen news with his own teaser tweet, before Cassidy Haynes and others followed up fleshing out the deal based on information from their own sources.

This followed news on Monday that JPMorgan had been brought in to help with the sale, though a timeline of "three to six months" was posited less than 24 hours before the PIF story took hold.

As usual, more on this dramatic and industry-altering story as it develops.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett