The old guard in wrestling agreed to do another show in this Middle Eastern country even though the last time they went, the government essentially held them hostage.

WWE

Saudia Arabia

On March 6, 2020, a retirement fund for firefighters filed a lawsuit against WWE in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, stemming from concerns related to the fund’s holding of WWE stock. According to Forbes, it is “an attempt at class action alleging that WWE defrauded investors via its handling of their deals with the Saudi royal family, who also control OSN, the network that airs WWE programming in Saudi Arabia.” The lawsuit claims that the Saudi Arabian government failed to pay WWE millions of dollars owed from their deal with the company, that WWE’s failed to disclose said payment issues and that OSN unlawfully terminated a broadcast deal with WWE.

In April 2020, several shareholders and investment firm filed a class action lawsuit against WWE for their alleged ties with Saudi Arabia. As per the portion of the filing, wrestlers were rumored held hostage after the 2019 Crown Jewel event. A statement from the filing read: “[The] Saudi Government was effectively holding a number of WWE wrestlers ‘hostage.'” WWE’s lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, denied the claim as a rumor, which was initially spread by former WWE Spanish commentator, Hugo Savinovich. Savinovich became critical of WWE after being fired in 2011. – Source

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