Global sports entertainment company WWE have on Thursday, announced the decision to completely suspend the WWE network in Russia via a statement that announced that the popular sports entertainment network will no longer be available in the region.
"WWE has terminated its partnership with Russian broadcaster Match and shut down WWE Network in Russia effective immediately"
"The move eliminates access in Russia to any WWE programming, including the company's weekly Raw, Smackdown and NXT shows, its on-demand library, and all of its premium live events, including WrestleMania 38." WWE said.
What the announcement means is that, no-one in Russia will be allowed access to WWE shows and content henceforth.
The news comes ahead of WWE's biggest show of the year, WrestleMania, which is scheduled to hold in Dallas later in April.
WWE joins the growing list of other companies and sporting organisations across the globe to have distanced themselves from Russia due to president Putin's ordered invasion in Ukraine last Thursday February 24.
A few years back former WWE superstar Rusev, despite being from Bulgaria, adopted a Russian hero character where his then manager and WWE diva Lana regularly acknowledged president Putin.
However, the bad guy gimmick - Rusev was dropped by the company in 2016 and claimed the reason was because of the goings on in the world amidst the growing tensions between Russia and the US.