TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro pushed back on fan and investor criticism of WWE’s recent WrestleMania ticket performance and creative direction during the company’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call on Wednesday, telling investors that WWE WrestleMania 42 was “a highly successful and profitable event.”
“More than 106,000 fans showed up over two nights in Las Vegas and financial incentive package economics were meaningfully ahead of last year,” Shapiro said in the prepared remarks portion of the call.
The remarks came after Shapiro flagged that TKO had “fielded some investor questions on WWE demand and the state of creative driven by online commentary and the year-over-year WrestleMania ticket sales performance.”
“We are not concerned about the ticket performance whatsoever, as it was unrealistic to expect year two growth in Las Vegas. And even with that, WrestleMania 42 was still one of the highest gates in WWE history, and easily outperformed anywhere else we could have staged it.”
Shapiro then addressed the creative-direction criticism directly.
“As it relates to the creative, there will always be periodic fan dissatisfaction around creative execution, commercial load and celebrity usage. We listen to all the feedback. We do not turn a deaf ear. But these are not new criticisms.”
Lightshed Partners analyst Brandon Ross followed up during the analyst Q&A, asking how the company balances “fan-facing monetization and the fan experience going forward” and whether vocal critics on social media reflect the broader fan base.
Shapiro pointed to the broader sports-and-entertainment industry as context.
“It’s no different than Hollywood. When you go to the movie theater and you see the prices rising for admission and popcorn and candy, not to mention the 30 minutes of commercials and trailers prior to the film, that’s been also excessively talked about,” Shapiro said. “When the NBA, as an example, even thought about putting a patch, a sponsorship patch, on their jerseys. Fans cried out. Now there’s digital boards and NBA games on the baseline. The courts themselves have sponsors. Look at major league baseball. The Dodgers just put a naming rights partner on the field at historic Dodger Stadium.”
Shapiro added that WWE is “truly new to commercial integration and sponsorship,” and that “change will be more glaring for some” but that the product remains the priority.
“Our product comes first, and marketers around the world recognize that our product, especially at WWE, is strong, and our audience there is particularly unique. It’s young, it’s diverse, it’s hard to reach, it’s super passionate, and they want access to our IP.”
Shapiro pointed to recent WWE live events as evidence of the demand.
“At WWE, we successfully staged our first ever Royal Rumble outside North America, and Elimination Chamber in Chicago became the second highest arena gate in company history,” Shapiro said. “Across our WWE main roster touring schedule, live events from Lubbock, which was on Valentine’s Day, to Laredo, which took place just over a week ago, sold out two months and just a 500 mile distance between the two cities, both sellouts. The underlying demand for our live events is indeed resilient and durable.”
WrestleMania 42 also delivered on broadcast.
“WrestleMania 42 had strong ratings across both ESPN and ESPN 2, including day one Saturday’s broadcast, marking ESPN 2’s most viewed telecast of the year,” Shapiro said. “WrestleMania hit the top 10 in 33 countries, which is above last year’s 28. That was just for Saturday. The Sunday event hit the top 10 in 24 countries.”
Shapiro used the call to detail two new WWE distribution deals layered on top of the existing Netflix and ESPN agreements. Netflix has now also picked up the WWE archive, and the CW has expanded its existing NXT deal to include premium live events.
“Early in Q1, Netflix became the official US home of WWE archive, which comprises decades of WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble content,” Shapiro said. “Netflix confirmed this deal actually in direct response to early success they’ve had with WWE premium content, not to mention the traction they are witnessing with the second season of Unreal, our WWE docu series.”
“Just last week, we announced the CW, already the home of NXT weekly Tuesday night programming, will become the exclusive home of all NXT PLEs, adding some 20 live broadcasts to a partnership that has made NXT the network’s top rated program among key demos.”
On Saudi Arabia, Shapiro confirmed that all of TKO’s planned 2026 events in the region remain on schedule and drew a direct contrast with the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s recent withdrawal of funding from LIV Golf.
“Following the news of PIF withdrawing its funding in LIV Golf, our partners in Saudi Arabia have confirmed that will not be the case with TKO,” Shapiro said. “Their commitment to our properties in 2026 and beyond is unwavering.”
WWE’s Night of Champions in Riyadh on June 27 will go ahead as planned, alongside a UFC Fight Night the same night in Baku, Azerbaijan. Shapiro said TKO expects the remainder of its 2026 Middle East slate, which includes six events across UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing, to take place as planned.
“The demand is real. Our partners are committed, and we are leaning in.”
WWE segment revenue for the first quarter was $475.7 million, up 22 percent year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $256.1 million, up 32 percent, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 54 percent. TKO attributed the segment’s growth primarily to the financial incentive package for the WWE Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and to new content distribution agreements with Netflix and ESPN.
WrestleMania 42 took place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18 and 19, 2026. Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk in the Night 2 main event to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
