The TKO merger shareholder lawsuit witness list has been released, with Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, Mark Shapiro, Paul Levesque, and Stephanie McMahon among the central figures set to testify when the trial begins June 8 in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
The witness names appear in a joint pre-trial order filed publicly on Tuesday and obtained by POST Wrestling. The order is awaiting formal approval from presiding Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster.
The shareholder lawsuit alleges that Vince McMahon orchestrated the 2023 TKO deal to save his own personal standing within the company after a wave of sexual misconduct allegations became public in 2022. The plaintiffs claim McMahon only trusted that Endeavor (under Emanuel) would allow him to stay on after a deal, with other potential bidders allegedly not given a fair shot at buying WWE. The plaintiffs argue WWE shareholders were shortchanged as a result.
The defendants in the case are Vince McMahon (with separate counsel from the rest), former WWE board members Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, George Barrios, and Michelle Wilson. WWE and TKO themselves are not defendants, though they are likely footing the legal bills for the non-McMahon defendants and could ultimately be responsible through indemnification if monetary damages are awarded. The defendants deny the allegations.
Both plaintiffs and defendants plan to call McMahon and Emanuel as live courtroom witnesses. The plaintiffs additionally plan to call Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, and Raine banker Jeff Sine, who advised WWE on the deal. The defendants will also call a wide range of WWE and TKO executives.
The full plaintiff witness list (intended live):
- Vince McMahon, then-WWE/TKO Executive Chairman
- Ari Emanuel, TKO CEO and Chairman, then-Endeavor CEO
- Mark Shapiro, TKO President and COO, Endeavor President
- Jeffrey Sine, Raine banker
- Frank Riddick, then-WWE Chief Financial Officer and board member
- Andrew Schleimer, TKO CFO and then-UFC CFO
- Brendan Houlihan, expert witness
- James Canessa, expert witness
The plaintiffs may also call live or by deposition:
- Jeffrey Speed, then-WWE board member (who oversaw the internal McMahon investigation)
- Stephanie McMahon, then-WWE executive and board member
- Marty Patterson, Liberty Media President and CEO
- Steve Pamon, then-WWE board member
The defendants’ witness list (intended live, several overlap with plaintiff’s list):
- George Barrios
- Brad Blum, former WWE executive
- Ari Emanuel
- Daniel Lee, Moelis Managing Director
- Paul Finger, JP Morgan Managing Director
- Nick Khan
- Steve Koonin, TKO board member
- Paul Levesque
- Vince McMahon
- Frank Riddick
- Andrew Schleimer
- Mark Shapiro
- Jeffrey Sine
- Michelle Wilson
- Mark Zhu (expected to appear via remote video while on parental leave)
- Doug Perlman, expert witness
- Professor Steven Salaga, expert witness
- Professor David C. Smith, expert witness
- Matthew Archer, shareholder plaintiff
- Dennis Palkon, shareholder plaintiff
Stephanie has been largely absent from WWE business operations since her January 2023 resignation following her father’s return to the company.
Speed was the lead director overseeing the WWE board’s internal investigation into allegations of misconduct against Vince McMahon. The plaintiffs have alleged that the investigation, which preceded McMahon’s July 2022 resignation, was a “sham” inquiry, which was essentially closed in the fall of 2022, shortly before McMahon’s formal engagement with the board in December and his return in January 2023.
The Marty Patterson witness inclusion brings in the Liberty Media perspective. Liberty Media was among the bidders for WWE. Patterson was a senior-level Liberty executive when WWE was being shopped in early 2023. Greg Maffei, who at the time held the role Patterson now holds, is shown in lawsuit filings calling the TKO deal “pre-wired” in an internal email just after the news broke. The Liberty involvement is central to the plaintiffs’ argument that other bidders did not get a fair shot at acquiring WWE.
The Janel Grant federal sex trafficking lawsuit against McMahon, filed in January 2024, is the parallel legal action that led to McMahon’s more lasting resignation from WWE and TKO. The joint proposed order indicates that pseudonyms will be used to refer to any of the women with whom McMahon signed NDAs. Aside from Grant and former WWE wrestler Rita Chatterton, the names of those women remain unknown to the public.
McMahon paid millions related to multiple nondisclosure agreements, which came to light in 2022 and were part of the board’s investigation. Shareholders could be awarded millions, potentially hundreds of millions, if they prevail.
