THE BLOG OF DRU: SAUDIMANIA (RE-ISSUED)

(This article was written on 09-18-2025)

WWE is no longer the WWE.

The only letters that matter is: TKO.

Well of course they’re still called the WWE, but it ain’t the same WWE I grew up on (shakes my fist in the air, old man yelling at cloud style).

It’s all about TKO, not pro wrestling. Not storytelling. There’s still compelling storylines (Hi AJ Lee & CM Punk) don’t get me wrong. But there’s a lot of “bag chasing/social media numbers matter more” and mortgaging the future for the past versus consistent pushes to wrestlers that put in the work, making sure the long term is set up and the like.

And I like money. Money is great. But let’s dive into some knowledge, real quick.

When Endeavor, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) merged together with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in September of 2023, it sent shockwaves through the sports and sports entertainment world, mainly because we never thought the UFC and pro wrestling would be on the same business page. It was also the first time in over 50 years a person with the last name McMahon was NOT the owner of anything related to the wrestling company. Since the merger, we’ve seen a step up in show production (Smackdown, Raw, NXT), wrestler signees, sponsorships, ads, collabs with celebrities and also merged with another wrestling promotion (AAA in Mexico). Wrestling hasn’t been this mainstream since maybe the late 1990’s, when the Monday Night Wars were at its peak with WCW (World Championship Wrestling) and WWE.

But there is one transition, business wise, that people have mixed feelings about, and that includes this writer as well: Saudi Arabia.

On March 5, 2025, TKO announced a partnership with Turki Al-Sheikh, the chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority. Saudi Arabia will be the host of Wrestlemania 43 in 2027. But before the merger, WWE/TKO has held PLE’s (Premium Live Events) in the country over the last 5-7 years or so. The responses from the fans have been mixed (from the crowd support, to the amount of money that the company has generated, to the country that TKO/WWE are in business with). The reason why fans are not the biggest supporters of this partnership is because of the infamous and violent history of Saudi’s human rights record, the execution of a journalist and among horrible crimes and decision making (Google is your friend. Use it).

With the resignation of Vince McMahon in 2023, it seems like the Saudis will want anything that they want to see on a wrestling card. There are reports that the Saudis want The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker wrestling on the Mania 43 card. As a fan of wrestling, I will say that is not going to happen (maybe Austin, considering he’s still in great shape for a man in his early 60’s in comparison to some of his other peers) because most of them are too old or not healthy enough to compete (Taker, Shawn), or have moved on to movies and such (The Rock).

Will TKO bend the knee to their wants? Or will they back down to certain concepts from the Saudis, and potentially shake up their billion dollar relationship?

So as fans, we can do two things: Either continue to “hate” watch the WWE OR, we can boycott and watch more of other wrestling organizations, like AEW, TNA and the Indies.

All money sometimes ain’t all good money.

Bloody or not.