WWE Problems: Racism At NXT Wrestler? NXT Unrest Over Pay? SmackDown Ratings Plummet And 'WWE 2K20' A Mess?

Ahead of its controversial show in Saudi Arabia, WWE has found itself embroiled in several PR blunders ranging from racist merchandise and a broken video game.

The highest-profile story has been WWE wrestler Jordan Myles’ accusations of racism against the company over a t-shirt released as part of NXT’s move to the USA Network. Myles attacked the shirt pointing out the red and white logo designed like a smile against a black shirt was similar to blackface and racist imagery used to attack African Americans in the past. He went on to say that WWE’s ‘vision’ of him “is a slap in the face to EVERY African American performer, fan, and supporter.”

WWE released a statement shortly after, saying Myles’ had approved the t-shirt before it was released. Myles countered by saying he was told about the shirt and uncomfortable with it, but didn’t say anything at the time. Myles’ attacks continued through Monday, saying that WWE didn’t “care about black people,” pointing to Hulk Hogan openly being rehired after apologizing for using racist language in a leaked recording. This was accompanied by a video that has since been deleted of Myles speaking further on the subject before flipping off the camera.

No further update has been provided as of Tuesday morning, though Brad Shepard of ProSportsExtra Tweeted that a source told him Myles’ future in WWE may be in question.

But that isn’t the only possible problem plaguing WWE in regards to NXT.

Casey Michaels of SquaredCircleSirens says sources in WWE’s Orlando Performance Center told him about pay unrest with the NXT roster since the show moved to the USA network Tuesday morning. He simply said there were “empty promises” and wrestlers asking for their release, but didn’t provide further details at the time.

However, independent wrestler David Starr provided further detail, saying the company didn’t deliver pay raises to wrestlers promoted to NXT’s TV show since its USA network debut. Starr’s claim is in line with stories from Fightful Select earlier in 2019 that NXT wrestlers were told about possible pay raises were on the way, only to back out of the promises.

WWE’s PR woes haven’t been limited to NXT and the Performance Center, either. According to Showbuzz Daily, Friday’s episode of SmackDown only drew 888,000 viewers, 63% down from the previous week’s 2.418 million viewers. It’s the first episode of the show to drop under one million viewers and was less than this past week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, which drew 963,000.

It’s worth noting that Friday’s episode was moved to Fox Sports 1 due to Fox’s contractual obligations to MLB to air the World Series. However, WrestleVotes said a source told them WWE was expecting numbers closer to what SmackDown did while still on the USA network.

Finally, WWE and 2K Games have faced heavy backlash from critics and gamers over the latest WWE game, “WWE 2K20.” The game was released on Oct. 22 to a wave of bad reviews, with the PS4 version sitting around a 44% on Metacritic.

However, that was just the start of the game’s problems.

Aside from the poor reviews around the game’s design and gameplay, it has been plagued with a litany of bugs and performance issues that have found their way online. Because of this, fans went online to vent and share their frustrations, posting images and videos of all the problems.

Developer Visual Concepts has promised a patch to address some of the issues within the next few weeks and will be the first in a series of patches to fix the many bugs plaguing the game. However, some fans are not willing to wait and have demanded refunds, which Sony has provided to players on PS4 according to GamesIndustry.Biz.