Newly revealed documents and text messages obtained by Wrestlenomics and Post Wrestling show that a key executive who now heads up TKO was confident about Vince McMahon’s return to WWE in 2023. The executive also correctly predicted that McMahon would sell the company to Endeavor.
The report, released Monday, includes images of text messages from newly disclosed records in the ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuit. The suit alleges that McMahon breached his fiduciary duties by arranging WWE’s merger with UFC to create TKO. The plaintiffs argue that this move was made to keep McMahon in power rather than to secure the best deal for WWE shareholders.
One of the key messages newly brought to light is from Mark Shapiro, who heads up TKO and was a higher-up at Endeavor at the time. The text was sent to current TKO Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer and then-Endeavor CFO Jason Lublin on July 22, 2022—the same day McMahon announced his retirement.
“Nick and Stephanie are going to take over the WWE for the next nine months,” Shapiro wrote. “Vince [will] be back with a new board, or he will take the company private, or he will sell it/coming to us. The race is on. The courtship is on.”
“Nick” refers to Nick Khan and “Stephanie” refers to Stephanie McMahon. It is unclear why Shapiro was so confident or accurate in his assessment at that time. McMahon returned less than six months later, in January 2023, rejoining the WWE Board with the intent to sell the company. The deal with Endeavor came together three months after his return.
The documents also confirmed speculation that McMahon was involved in WWE’s creative process leading up to WrestleMania 39. This goes against Khan’s statement on CNBC that Vince had no involvement in creative as he was no longer in an executive role with the company at the time.
The shareholder lawsuit is set to go to trial in June 2026. You can read the entire article here.
