TKO knows there are plenty of questions about heading to the Middle East right now, and the company finally addressed the situation with its own employees. With WWE Crown Jewel coming up fast, the message from the top was pretty simple — safety comes first.
According to PWInsider, TKO held a company-wide town hall over Zoom on October 28. The meeting included WWE, UFC, Zuffa Boxing and On Location, with each department basically giving everyone a quick rundown of what they have coming up.
Most of the meeting was described as your typical “rah-rah” corporate stuff, but things got a little more serious when TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro brought up the company’s upcoming events in the Middle East. Shapiro made it very clear that everyone’s safety was “paramount.” That’s obviously going to get some attention considering everything happening around WWE’s upcoming Crown Jewel trip.
The timing of the meeting is interesting too. It happened before news broke that Crown Jewel would be moving to a different venue in Riyadh, so that particular change wasn’t brought up during the call.
All of this comes while the security situation in Saudi Arabia continues to raise some pretty serious questions. The U.S. State Department recently ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave the country because of safety risks tied to attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis.
There have also been warnings about attacks on airports, possible airspace closures, canceled flights and travel disruptions. U.S. government employees still working in Saudi Arabia even need special authorization to use airports following recent missile and drone attacks. TKO hasn’t exactly been ignoring any of this. Ari Emanuel previously said the company has a team keeping tabs on the situation every day while WWE continues getting ready for Crown Jewel.
There was some actual wrestling talk during the town hall as well. WWE President Nick Khan spoke about the company’s next crop of stars and specifically brought up Bron Breakker, Je’Von Evans, Sol Ruca and Oba Femi.
So TKO isn’t hitting the panic button, but it clearly knows people inside the company are paying attention to what’s happening. Crown Jewel is still moving forward, and Shapiro apparently wanted employees to know that getting everyone through these upcoming Middle East events safely is at the top of the list.
Do you think TKO’s message will ease concerns backstage ahead of WWE’s upcoming trip to the Middle East? Let us know what you think in the comments.
