The U.S. State Department currently has Saudi Arabia under a Level 3 Travel Advisory—which literally means "Reconsider Travel."
They’ve ordered non-essential government personnel to evacuate and warned citizens about active drone and missile threats targeting civilian airports.
In normal human terms: when the government tells diplomats to get out because the airspace and airports aren’t safe, putting 100+ wrestlers, crew, and production staff on a plane into that same region isn't a "calculated risk"—it's reckless.
Yet, you have outlets like Fightful Select reporting that sources on-site claim things are "nowhere near as bad as the media makes it out to be", soft-pedaling the legitimate anxiety backstage while framing it as under control.
No typos, they put this bullshit, paid for by TKO, behind a paywall!
Let’s take a moment and hear from Gemini about this situation. Which is one of the most dangerous incidents in the history of pro wrestling… unless, of course, you happen to work at Fightful or TKO.
Fightful Doesn’t Care About Safety, Just Money, Sound Familiar?
But Jay, why do access outlets write this kind of thing? That’s a great question, hopefully I can make this simple.
Source Protection: Their "sources" on these stories are high-level WWE executives or host organizers who need the narrative sanitized to prevent public backlash or partner panic.
Access& Revenue: Aggregators and wrestling news sites depend on WWE for access, interviews, and traffic. Calling out a multi-million-dollar state deal as dangerous burns bridges they can't afford to lose.
PR Laundering: WWE gets over $50M per show from the Saudi government. The corporate line is "the show goes on at all costs," and access media functions as the PR buffer to translate corporate greed into "don't worry, everything is fine."
The Bottom Line: Government agencies don't issue evacuation orders for fun, and wrestlers shouldn't have to risk flying into an active conflict zone just so a corporate contract stays intact.
Sources: Common sense, Google Gemini and Grok
