WWE Night of Champions weekend is here. The show already kicked off with several WWE stars appearing in front of a cheering crowd of fans in Saudi Arabia. While this looks like pretty standard fanfare, it is vital and important not to ignore what is and continues to happen here. Sportswashing is in full effect, and ten years since WWE and the Saudi Government started working together, the practice has proven to be effective.
Google the name Turki al-Jasser. He was a Saudi journalist who, in 2014, critiqued the Saudi Arabian government on social media. For those criticisms, he was sentenced to death by the government. He was executed on Wednesday, June 18. These are the types of stories that sportswashing is meant to squash, and TKO is playing its part in that.
The partnership between WWE and Saudi Arabia goes back to 2014. The deal would bring several major events and PLEs to Saudi Arabia, while WWE was paid a handsome fee to the tune of $50 million per show.
From the very start, WWE was criticized for the deal by outlets that typically cover sports entertainment, all the way up to major media platforms. It was a disturbing (but not new) sight to see an American organization partner with a foreign government known for human rights violations. But the disgusting nature of it continued to grow as WWE and its contracted stars were used to paint a picture of Saudi Arabia that was counter to the way human rights organizations would describe the government. Those criticisms were ramped up with the death of Jamal Khashoggi, but WWE never once flinched in the face of them.
There’s a reason WWE has shied away from announcing where these events are taking place. Skirting around that important detail hopefully keeps the casual fan from recognizing what is going on. Look at what is going on today. CM Punk stands in front of cheering fans, apologizing for a 2019 tweet in which he criticized The Miz for attending a Saudi Arabia show.
“This guy wants me to apologize for a mean tweet I wrote six years ago,” Punk said. “Legitimately had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia. I woke up and I was crabby and I wrote a mean tweet to The Miz. I apologized to the Miz, and Mohammed I sincerely apologize to you and Saudi Arabia.”
CM Punk apologized to a fan for his Saudi Arabia tweet to The Miz. pic.twitter.com/sSQuSrdhm7
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) June 27, 2025
Think about that. CM Punk is known for using his platform of millions of followers to criticize the US Government for actions against various minority communities, but he made it a point to apologize to another which does the same, and even more heinous things against the same groups. All for the cheers, and the dollar signs.
Some try to throw the idea of “virtue signaling” at the people who continue to criticize the WWE for its partnership with Saudi. Maybe, for some. But the calling out of major American companies playing a role in a government trying to “clean up” its perception needs to be highlighted every opportunity it can be highlighted. These are the moments when regimes win and if the people stand in silence those victories come faster and easier.
Sportswashing isn’t new. It is a practice almost as old as sports itself. Still, that doesn’t mean it should be ignored as commonplace and acceptable. It is not acceptable to see the largest professional wrestling company in the world dance to the puppet strings of a government that is known for squashing basic human rights. Yet here we are. If you consider yourself a fan of sports entertainment and professional wrestling, continue to call them out on this every time.