WWE criticized for WrestleMania move to Saudi Arabia; Vince Russo claims the company is pushing fans into debt (Exclusive)

Former WWE head writer Vince Russo recently spoke about the company's decision to host WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia. The announcement was made this Friday.

Before SmackDown, Chief Content Officer Triple H and several other stars and legends showed up to a press conference to announce that WrestleMania 43 will emanate from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The announcement marked a historic moment in WWE, as this would be the first Mania to be hosted outside North America.

During this week's episode of BroDown with host Mac Davis, Russo mentioned that he would be done watching WWE by the time WrestleMania 43 rolls around. He didn't care what the company did and wasn't bothered about where they hosted WrestleMania. However, the veteran writer did say that the company was driven by profits and no longer cared about its fans.

"Mac, I gotta tell you, bro, I'll be done watching anything WWE by that point. So that doesn't affect me either way. I'm just being honest. I really could care less what the company does at this point. It means nothing to me." He continued, "They don't care. It's about money. They don't care about anything else."

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Russo also criticized the fans for paying astronomical ticket prices and still attending the shows. He felt it was scary that they were paying for the events through their credit cards and getting into debt just to watch mediocre storytelling.

"Here's what I hate about it. Every time I watch these shows and I see all the people there, the first thought that runs through my head is, 'How are you affording these tickets?' Here's what's really sad. I know how they're affording them. They're affording them with their credit card. So now the price of that ticket will be 25% higher. Now they're putting themselves in debt to go to a wrestling show, and that's the scary part."

WWE signed a ten-year deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2018. The deal netted the company one billion dollars and has transformed the way the company hosts international PLEs.

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About the author

Prityush is a WWE news writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling who started watching wrestling in the later part of The Attitude Era. Although he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Prityush was a creative writer for his college, and his flair for creativity and love of pro wrestling eventually led him to the journalism field. After an initial stint in 2016-2017, he has been writing regularly for Sportskeeda since 2021.

As someone who loves and respects the business, he prides himself on factual, clean, and ethical reporting, free of plagiarism and AI usage. One of the ways he ensures this is by transcribing videos that he reports on.

Prityush had the privilege of interviewing superstar Matt Hardy in his career so far. Although, his favorite wrestler is CM Punk, as he relates to his Straight Edge philosophy.

When he is not reporting news, he loves reading and collecting WWE action figures. He currently owns over 500 wrestling figures and merchandise.

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Edited by Prityush Haldar