Rumours that Vince McMahon could potentially look to sell the WWE have been around perhaps since the start of the organisation, but these rumours grew in 2020 with a number of key departures within the business from long time serving members of George Barrios and Michelle Wilson which seemed to somewhat cement that he may eventually do so – and then with Nick Khan being named President last summer, those calls continued to heat up too. The past few weeks have only gone on to further fuel these rumours however, as it seems a potential sale is almost inevitable.
Releasing big talent – One of the biggest indicators that something could be on the way has been the release of a number of the organisations biggest talents, most recently with former champ and fan favourite Braun Strowman amongst others including Aleister Black. Black announced on his Twitch stream that he believes many of the releases were due to budget cuts, but others have also suggested it may have just been a method to reduce overhead before a big sale to perhaps drive the potential price up as overheads go down – it’s an interesting take, but it’s difficult to see why some of the organisations biggest and most loved talents would be let go without a bigger explanation.
Further restructuring at the WWE – It hasn’t only been releasing big names and talent but other restructuring of the media group too – the Peacock deal has been nodded to regularly recently for this with Mike Johnson at PW Insider stating that the advanced media group had been all but destroyed, with remaining employees having a lot more added to their job role for the day to day, with even those who ran the advanced media and production in Jaylar Donlan and Brian Pellegatto also being laid off.
By all accounts, it certainly seems as if something is happening behind the scenes that could lead to big changes moving forward – although some of the blame has been put on COVID-19 and the struggles faced throughout the past year but can’t be the entire reason why. Over the coming weeks, further news will continue to be revealed and fans will likely wait on held breath to see if their own favourite talent could be next on the chopping block, interestingly much like with betting on fights with the likes of online gambling in Montana for wrestling matches, there are also interest odds for those looking to guess who may be released or who may pick up the slack of the WWE.
If there has ever been an opportunity for another big organisation to come and take the wind out of the sails of the WWE, now could certainly be it – with sales rumours and big talent now on the market, any organisation with the will or the determination to take the place of the WWE could certainly find a nice gap to fill and a star-studded roster to back it up.
