Major wrestling rumours emerged last night, when it was reported that WWE had reached an agreement to sell the company to the Saudi Arabian Public Investments Fund.
Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN initially tweeted:
Sources: #WWE has been sold to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The company will go back to being private.
Unknown if Vince McMahon will return to head of creative but it is expected by some people.
However, a short time later, Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam reported the following, which Muehlhausen said he’d also heard:
The deal isn’t completely finalized because WWE must provide notice to shareholders & other parties.
There are legalities to go through, as the company is publicly traded.
But, again, I’m told a deal has been agreed to in principle.
Today (January 11), multiple outlets, including TMZ and Ariel Helwani, reported that a deal was not finalized.
Dave Meltzer spoke about the backstage reaction to the news on Wrestling Observer Radio, noting that there were a lot of people ‘scared’ and there was a ‘lot of uncertainty’ in the company.
In an update from Fightful Select (subscription required), there are reportedly a number of wrestlers, including some who recently made their return, as well as top stars, who said they would walk out of the company should a sale to Saudi Arabia be announced.
Some additional information and clarification about how the rumours started has since been revealed, which can be found here.
We will bring any additional information on a potential WWE sale as it becomes available.
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