“Many” employees at TKO Group Holdings, Inc. — the parent company of WWE and UFC — are growing more frustrated with the company for continuing to hold events in Saudi Arabia while the country is being hit with attacks, according to a new report from Uncrowned at Yahoo Sports.
Reporter Ben Fowlkes wrote in his Uncrowned story that one source within TKO said the company’s insistence to hold events in the country is “all about greed,” and the bosses at TKO “don’t care about anybody’s well-being.”
In the
weeks leading up to this year’s WWE Crown Jewel (Nov. 7) in Riyadh, the United States Department of State issued multiple alerts for Americans in the region, including a message that warned of potential attacks on airports following strikes on airspaces by Iran-supported Houthis.
Fortunately for all involved, Crown Jewel went off without WWE talent seemingly being put in peril, and the wrestlers —or at least all butone of them — made it out of Saudi Arabia before missiles strikes hit Riyadh’s financial district on Sunday (Nov. 8).
Fowlkes story cited multiple sources within TKO who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and they all echoed the same sentiments about the possibility of being put in harm’s way.
“Why are you still even having these shows at this point?” one source reportedly told Uncrowned. “I think the answer is, if they chose not to do the show, they would lose out on millions and millions of dollars.”
The source added, “So it’s all about greed. They don’t care about anybody’s well-being. The level of greed with this company is so gross.”
“All [TKO executives] talk about is if the State Department says it is OK to fly there,” another source said, according to Fowlkes. “‘The rest of us are like, ‘If the State Department has to think about it at all, let’s just postpone.’ That’s what all the other sports are doing. Why can’t TKO?”
Upcoming TKO events in Riyadh include a Zuffa Boxing — a joint venture between TKO and Saudi company Sela — contest on November 14 and a UFC Fight Night on December 5.
The people who spoke to Uncrowned also expressed frustration about how they’re not getting paid enough money to work events when their lives are at risk. Even still, those workers indicated they felt resigned to the situation.
“Everyone is talking about the Middle East shows,” one anonymous source said. “Who has to go, who can get out of going…This is a company that can fire you for no reason or any reason. Everyone just can’t believe this is a choice that they are being forced to make — fly into a war zone or risk getting fired before Christmas.”
Uncrowned contacted TKO for comment regarding the comments made by the unnamed sources, but the company had not responded at the time Yahoo Sports published its story.
Please share your thoughts on the comments made by the TKO workers to Uncrowned in the comments below.
