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It's not something that they will be able to deny. I know some people are like "whatever, does anyone even care?" but it doesn't need to be a timely issue or have an immediate impact to become something people get upset over at any point in the future, even if you consider that to be frivolous.
All it would take is one really big faux pas by WWE, a really slow news week, or a viral social media trend that gets people upset for accepting Saudi money. They can't play ignorant -- now or ever. It may not be anyone's biggest priority right now, but should it become an actual news story to people (and it's far more likely than them getting any sort of mainstream media attention for anything positive), then they could be dropped by sponsors and even TV networks.
They've got ten years of this shit lined up, and it's not going to be a major story until it is. Then they've got ten years of history for people to eventually dig up and use against them, or to keep younger engaged people from financially supporting the company. Engaged people are probably far less likely to be fans of WWE in the first place, because they'd have fucking lives lol, but it could certainly be a factor.
For example, it's an edge that AEW is always going to have over WWE. They don't have the history of accepting blood money from a murderous regime. One is clearly going to be the babyface for the upcoming generation that was born in an era where not having a smart phone that can summon up this history in seconds is unthinkable, and the other is clearly going to be a heel, and that's not something ideal when you're a publicly traded company.
Well, there's that and then there's that they generally insult your intelligence.
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