WWE Settled Saudi Arabia Class Action Lawsuit As A ‘Last Resort’

WWE settled a $39 million class action lawsuit concerning their dealings with Saudi Arabia. The were accused of withholding vital information to their stock holders concerning how well their relationship with the controversial country was going. This also pertained to the situation after Crown Jewel where WWE Superstars were stuck in Saudi Arabia for an additional 24 hours due to a “mechanical failure.”

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer opened up about this lawsuit and he explained how out of character it is for Vince McMahon to settle, especially for such a high amount of money.

“At one point I think I counted 21 different lawsuits that all copied the original one and with high power people too. Discovery was coming. They had witnesses. I know some of the things that were going on behind the scenes and it was gonna be — you know nothing that was going to come out wasn’t something we didn’t already know and wasn’t already reported, but it was all going to come out.”

“I think that in the end, WWE settled for $39 million which is a lot of money. That’s more than the Owen Hart case, that’s double the Owen Hart case. I mean people are thinking it’s settled for nothing. This is a large amount of money. They do have insurance to cover it, but their insurance premiums are going to go through the roof.”

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“If you know Vince, Vince is only going to settle at last resort. You know if you know Vince when it comes to all these different suits he’s been in there are very few settlements and the ones that are, Martha Hart they had to, but they might do very small settlements in different cases, but I mean there’s never been one on this level, never close to this dollar amount in history.”

It was noted that he received “emails and texts all night” while Superstars are in Saudi Arabia. He said that Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson heard people talking on the headset in production, but it wasn’t confirmed that they were two of the witnesses. The Good Brothers certainly heard things.

WWE obviously didn’t want this situation going to court, so they settled for a very high dollar amount.

Transcription by Ringside News