Fightful Select has a new report on the sale rumors that have been going on over the last week following Vince McMahon’s return to WWE as a member of the Board of Directors. WWE hasn’t been sold, but several companies are looking into potentially buying the company.
It was said that there is a direct line drawn between Vince McMahon retiring and the stock price, live event attendance, viewership, and talent morale increasing. After the Axios piece came out, the general consensus is that the “well-received” nature from Wall Street resulted from the sale talk and not McMahon returning.
Regarding the rumors of a sale to the Saudi Arabia Investment Fund and it being squashed, there has been countless “guy who knows a guy” situations that have fed information to both mainstream outlets and wrestling media claiming deals with Disney and Saudi Arabia were both “as good as done deals.” It was said there are influential names in the business who expect Comcast to buy the company.
Both Disney and Comcast had employees who heard of the rumors and believed “that any major company would want to retain Vince’s services in any capacity if they could help it.”
Regarding the Barron report about AEW’s Tony and Shad Khan being interested in buying WWE, a source noted that “it makes sense from every perspective to at least throw your name out there, for the very reasons that article even got published. There are a lot of interesting elements, but I wouldn’t think it’s going to happen. Then again, it’s wrestling, and far wilder things have happened.”
That same source said that the publicity associated with even having the Khans mentioned in connection to the WWE sale was a positive, and if the Khans did buy it, it’d likely be with a group led by them.
The report noted, “The roster morale and reception to Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan as compared to Vince McMahon has been night and day. Even Triple H’s guidance has led to talent and staff telling us that work is more fun for them, while we’ve heard rumors that Vince McMahon has already sent word to some departments to say they’re doing things wrong since his return.”
Stephanie, Khan, and Triple H were among the Board that unanimously agreed that Vince’s return wasn’t in the best interest of the company.
Triple H and Stephanie were said to be willing to work towards the progression of a sale. At least two potential suitors noted that they believe there would be roles in WWE post-sale for Stephanie and Triple H if they stayed with the company.
Several sources at WWE HQ said that when Stephanie’s team was dismantled during the pandemic, “a usually composed Stephanie was disheartened and frustrated about how it happened.”
Talent is also still very worried about Vince returning to creative.
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