It’s the Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.
Are Janel Grant and her accusations ultimately responsible for the TKO merger of Zuffa and WWE? That appears to be at the heart of the case made by the plaintiffs in the WWE shareholders’ lawsuit. Documents made public for the first time offer insight into events surrounding the merger and the opening arguments for attorneys representing WWE shareholders.
While the trial that was scheduled to start Monday is now off the calendar, thousands of pages of depositions, text conversations, and other documents unsealed before trial offer a window into how the deal allegedly came together.
On this episode, I will try to explain why the lawsuit is, or was, about more about behavior than numbers, stocks and balance sheets.
The NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders have two new minority shareholders as TKO’s Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro will soon join the team.
Reported by Variety on Tuesday, Emanuel (TKO CEO) and Shapiro (TKO president and COO) will “take individual, personal stakes” in the Raiders, making them minority owners, joining Dell Technologies’ founder Michael Dell and Blackstone global head of private equity Joseph Baratta. Two other minority investors have also increased their stakes. NFL legend Tom Brady is famously part of the ownership group, led by Mark Davis, son of the also legendary Al Davis.
Following the expected close of the deal later this month, Emanuel will own 1.4% of the Raiders while Shapiro will own .06%. At a total team valuation of $9.9 billion, Emanuel’s stake could be in the neighborhood of $139 million with Shapiro’s stake at an estimated $5.94 million.
Emanuel brought in $67.4 million last year from TKO while Shapiro took home $42.6 million. Shapiro is also a minority owner for the Los Angeles franchise in Major League Soccer with both men having extensive ties to the NFL. TKO’s On Location is the exclusive hospitality provider of the NFL.
The Raiders play at Allegiant Stadium, home of the last two WWE WrestleManias with TKO having a significant presence in the city with the UFC headquartered there. The team was established in 1960 in the American Football League before joining the NFL in 1970. Before moving to Las Vegas, they spent time in both Los Angeles and Oakland.
WWE president Nick Khan brought home $24.3 million for 2025 based on $2 million of base salary, $11 million in stock awards and more than $10 million in bonuses.
Khan also has taken on the role of Zuffa Boxing promoter, an effort TKO has partnered with Sela, a Saudi Arabian entertainment conglomerate owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). $3.7 million of that bonus was attributed to those efforts.
TKO president Mark Shapiro, someone who appears frequently at major events and is a public face for the company, earned $42.6 million for the year.
TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, credited with bringing in The Rock for last February’s infamous WWE Elimination Chamber appearance in addition to Pat McAfee’s inclusion in the Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton WrestleMania 42 angle, earned $67.4 million.
Vince McMahon is still listed as the biggest individual Class A stockholder with 6,442,325 shares, worth roughly $1.2 billion in current day value, but does not draw any TKO salary.
Plenty of people have had strong reactions to Pat McAfee being the mystery man behind Randy Orton, and Les Thatcher & Victor Sosa will share their thoughts on this edition of Wrestling Weekly.
But it’s more than just McAfee; it’s the reporting indicating who made this happen and why. We’ll discuss why we think it’s an overreaction to a problem that was created in house.
We’ll also run down the card for Sunday’s AEW Dynasty and give our predictions for the show.
While some fans weren’t thrilled with the reveal of Pat McAfee as the mystery confidante to Randy Orton on this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown, there is some new information out Monday as how it came together and why.
On Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that the ESPN sports talk host and occasional WWE broadcaster was “the first choice” for the spot and that it came directly from TKO head and McAfee agent Ari Emanuel. However, McAfee turned down the offer at first.
“That’s where it came from. They wanted celebrity involvement. Originally from what I was told, Pat McAfee was the choice and he turned it down. Then, they were scrambling to get somebody else in the spot, and then, obviously, they were able to make a deal with him. So he did it and he was there,” Meltzer said.
McAfee attacked Cody Rhodes on Friday’s SmackDown during a segment with Orton, then cutting a promo in which he referenced a record-low SmackDown rating (apparently talking about Cagematch data), that WrestleMania 42 still had tickets left, and that he and Orton were going to save the wrestling business.
“This was not a WWE creative move. This was not a Paul Levesque move. It came over their heads and there’s a lot of people not happy about it at all. One person told me it was the single most counterproductive thing the company has done in a long time, but there you go,” Meltzer said.
As referenced earlier, McAfee’s show is on ESPN, the same network which will air next weekend’s WrestleMania 42 as part of their domestic premium live event contract. McAfee is expected to be a major promotional hub for the PLE, raising questions as to how he will handle his heel persona when he is doing interviews.
TKO head Mark Shapiro isn’t shy about the success of both WWE and UFC.
During a Super Bowl week appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Friday, he and TKO executive chairman Ari Emanuel talked about TKO business, boxing, and personal stories.
At one point, Shapiro said that both WWE and UFC were ‘$20 billion properties…each” which led to Emanuel intimating in a joking way that he wasn’t supposed to say that followed by Shapiro saying “it’s all public info.”
As of Friday at 2 pm Eastern, TKO’s listed market cap is just over $41 billion which includes WWE, UFC, Professional Bull Riders, OnDemand, and IMG. The company was officially formed in September 2023 with the merger of WWE and UFC.
TKO has more than doubled in value since September 2023 and is trading at nearly $211 per share as of this writing. They will announce their Q4 and full 2025 financials in late-February.
Updating the John Cena/Cody Rhodes interview, what was and wasn’t said, update on the plans for WrestleMania as well as the current ticket demand and interest level.
WBD expresses interest in UFC and evaluating the value of the UFC PPV business, the methods of distribution, how many buyers or subscribers will it take to cover what UFC wants and that value, how a deal with WBD would affect AEW (it would , perhaps significantly).
Full coverage of the final week of the New Japan Cup, including a look at one of the best shows of the year and New Japan’s next major show.
2024 Gaspard/Huber award winners, the most important award we give each year
The most detailed look at the ratings for the various shows, including competition, men vs. women and things to note from the different shows over the past week.
Build to CMLL’s second biggest event of the year
How the foreign talent is doing in Mexico
AAA champion suspended in key market and why
Difference between commission suspensions in U.S. and Mexico
What WWE superstar was suspended for a drug test failure by athletic commissions nationwide and a commission didn’t honor it and why several years back
Angle for a non-wrestling booker to face a woman star in a match
Homicide retirement notes
A look back at the most famous NCAA wrestling tournament match of all-time
The state of El Hijo del Santo’s retirement tour
Updates on Border City Wrestling
Queen of the Ring updates
More on the early days of women’s pro wrestling history
Mandy Rose talks business after wrestling
AEW Dynasty updates including business
AEW and the Ryan Nemeth lawsuit against the company, Tony Khan and CM Punk
International TV and streaming numbers
WWE countering AEW PPV shows
Lex Luger Hall of Fame questions
How much is Dwayne Johhnson’s ownership of TKO worth
How much is Vince McMahon’s current ownership worth
Lots of injury updates
Developmental updates
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about a giant news weekend with Wrestling Observer Radio. Friday’s show with Garrett Gonzales went in depth on these topics:
The Shad Gaspard/Jonathan Huber award
Heel John Cena
New Japan Cup finale
AEW Dynamite rating
AEW & WWE rosters
Lex Luger and Tony Khan’s dilemma
TKO & Netflix
— In what may go down as the biggest match in college wrestling history, Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State scored a takedown with 15 seconds left to beat Gable Steveson in last night’s NCAA tournament final at 285 pounds. Steveson was up 4-2 but the takedown scored Hendrickson three points to win, 5-4. The most famous final was Larry Owings beating Dan Gable (who Steveson was named after) in 1970 and was considered the biggest upset in college wrestling history. Many were calling last night’s result the biggest upset in college wrestling history (I think so but it’s close) and even the biggest in college sports history (I wouldn’t go that far). There is a ton to digest from this one. Steveson had not been taken down all season. I’m not even sure the last time he was taken down was, but he had not lost a wrestling match of any kind since he was 19 years old in 2019.
— Carter Starocci became the first five-time Division I champion due to allowing him an extra season due to COVID beating Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa by a 4-3 score. As Starocci was just starting his promo after the win, President Trump came out and just took all the attention away from an achievement that will likely never be duplicated. It was just sad timing. The place went nuts when Trump came out.
— Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell are leaving Endeavor, buying WME while Mark Shapiro will stay with Endeavor according to this story as Endeavor goes private.
— Very sad to report on the death of independent wrestler Graham Michael (Artist Artest) after a medical emergency in a match last night in Fairborn, OH for Xtreme Valley Wrestling. We don’t have more details past it was the second straight weekend someone died in a match. XVW wrote that he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital and that staff worked tirelessly to keep him alive until the medics arrived. I will say this, a lot of commissions mandate an ambulance at independent shows, both in the U.S. and Mexico but wrestling has gone unregulated in most parts of the U.S. for years. This is probably something that should be mandated everywhere.
— CMLL’s El Homenaje a Dos Leyndas show on Friday night ended with Zandokan Jr & Star Jr. beating Valiente & Esfinge, leading to Zandokan Jr. beating Star Jr. in a mask match. The show was very good, although this didn’t have the same emotion as some of the more famous mask matches in recent years. But they worked very hard. Mistico & Mascara Dorada beat Komander & Hologram in an excellent match with La Mistica on Komander. Komander really stole the show in that match. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja retained the CMLL tag titles over Rocky Romero & Volador Jr, while AEW’s Lady Frost & Taya Valkyrie lost in a match for the vacant CMLL women’s tag titles to Lluvia & Jarochita. We’ll have more on this tonight.
— WWE results from yesterday in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Rey Mysterio b Finn Balo
Charlotte Flair b Piper Niven
Bron Breakker b Sheamus to keep the IC title
Chelsea Green b Michin to keep the US title
Gunther DCOR CM Punk to keep the World title
War Raiders b New Day to keep the tag titles
Andrade b Carmelo Hayes
Braun Strowman & JImmy Uso b Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga
Cody Rhodes b Solo Sikoa in a cage match to keep the WWE title
–We’re looking for reports from today’s WWE show in Nottingham, England with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]
— Future Stars of Wrestling on Triller tonight has the Chris Bey benefit show from Las Vegas:
Kenny King vs. Swerve Strickland
Alex Hammerstone vs. Karrion Kross
Johnny TV vs. Lio Rush vs. Ace Austin
Frankie Kazarian vs. Joe Wiliams vs. Gregory Sharpe vs. TJP vs Danny Limelight
— WWE tonight on A&E at LFG at 8 p.m., Rivals at 9:30 p.m. is about the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat feud and WWE Greatest Moments at 10:30 p.m. is about celebrities in WWE of the 80s like Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper.
— Collision tonight after NCAA basketball at about 11 p.m. Eastern has Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta & Pac vs. Top Flight & AR Fox for the trios titles, Johnny TV vs. Bandido, Harley Cameron vs Aminah Belmnt and Komander & Hologram vs. Mortos & Dralistico. The trios title match opens directly following the game rather than the Lucha match.
— Former UFC star Yoel Romero knocked out former Bellator fighter Ras Hylton in the main event of last night’s Dirty Boxing show in Miami. This is the promotion that Jon Jones has an ownership stake in.
— Pro wrestler and former MMA star Shinya Aoki fought on today’s ONE show at the Saitama Super Arena, beating Eduard Folayang via submission with an armbar in 53 seconds.
— The WWE Valt YouTube has put up a WCW house show from March 13, 1993, in Manchester, England. The top matches were Sting vs. Paul Orndorff, Cactus Jack vs. Vader, Davey Boy Smith vs. Vinnie Vegas and Rick Rude vs. Van Hammer. (thanks to Stephen Lyon)
The early stages of the WWE and Netflix relationship have both sides very happy according to TKO head Ari Emanuel.
Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, Emanuel was asked about how things have gone in the first month of WWE Raw debuting on Netflix domestically and the entire WWE televised & archive universe internationally.
Emanuel said the Netflix team are “incredible partners” and that “the show is performing.”
“We’re thrilled. I think they’re happy. Numbers are up, really good,” he said, assumed to be referring to Raw’s numbers.
WWE and Netflix embarked on their five-year deal in January that could turn into a much, much longer relationship. Emanuel again told the story of how he and Netflix content head Bela Bajaria had breakfast and initially talked about WWE NXT which then immediately moved to Raw instead.
He said the final deal was done over the Christmas holiday in 2023, finalized during a Zoom call with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos while he was in London. After the deal was done, Emanuel joked he and Mark Shapiro did a jig.
On a huge day for the company, representatives from WWE were in New York City on Tuesday to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.
It was announced on Tuesday morning that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been appointed to the board of directors for TKO Group Holdings (WWE’s parent company). Soon after, WWE made the announcement that it has agreed to a 10-year deal to bring Raw to Netflix starting in January 2025.
TKO Group celebrated the news with Johnson ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. He was joined by Vince McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Nick Khan, Endeavor/TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, and more.
After ringing the bell, Johnson and Emanuel were interviewed on CNBC together. Here are notes from their appearance.
Ari Emanuel:
When asked about the increase for Raw’s rights, Emanuel said the financial terms of the Netflix deal are “in line” with the stock market’s expectations. Emanuel thinks Netflix is a global leader and the best company for sports entertainment, which they’ve proven with Formula 1 and the Tour de France.
Emanuel thinks this is an important step for Netflix. Live programming is important for Netflix.
TKO stock is currently up nearly 20 percent after today’s news. Emanuel stressed that the word “Netflix” is a big part in that. The relationship with Netflix strengthens WWE’s brand on a global basis.
Emanuel doesn’t think linear TV or cable is going away, but there is a push to streaming. WWE has a linear play with SmackDown and NXT, and Raw is their streaming play. Emanuel thinks it’s a great deal for Netflix.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson:
Joining the TKO board of directors is an “unprecedented” move. His grandfather Peter Maivia and father Rocky Johnson would have never thought that something like this would happen.
There’s no CEO in the world like Ari Emanuel. Game-changing deals are a testament to who Emanuel is. Johnson is excited for the WWE-Netflix deal.
Johnson has secured full ownership of his “The Rock” name in addition to joining the TKO board of directors. Johnson said there’s a business and economic side of getting the name, but it goes much deeper than that for him. Johnson owes The Rock name everything. There would be no wrestling or Hollywood career without it. The name is a derivative of his father. Emanuel had a million reasons to say no, but he found the reason to say yes. The name is something that Johnson has earned and Emanuel thinks belongs to Johnson.
This is Johnson’s first time on the board of directors for a public company. He’s been asked to join other boards in the past, but the family connection makes this important. Johnson is excited about it and always looking to grow. Johnson is a builder of things and enjoys building. He loves and admires Emanuel and loves building with him.
Endeavor Group Holdings could be positioning itself for a sale.
Company CEO Ari Emanuel was quoted in an Endeavor press release on Wednesday announcing the initiation of a formal review to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company.
“Given the continued dislocation between Endeavor’s public market value and the intrinsic value of Endeavor’s underlying assets, we believe an evaluation of strategic alternatives is a prudent approach to ensure we are maximizing value for our shareholders,” Emanuel said.
The strategic alternatives could potentially include the company being sold. However, today’s press release specifically mentioned Endeavor will not consider selling its interest in TKO Group Holdings, the company created via the WWE and UFC merger earlier this year. Endeavor holds a 51% stake in the company.
“As part of this review of strategic alternatives, the Company will not consider the sale or disposition of the Company’s interest in TKO Group Holdings, Inc.”
“Endeavor has not set a deadline or definitive timetable for the completion of the strategic alternatives review process, and there can be no assurance that this process will result in any particular outcome. The Company does not intend to comment further regarding the review of strategic alternatives until it determines disclosure is necessary or advisable.”
Brandon Thurston posted an email sent to Endeavor staff regarding the news.
The email reads:
Today, Endeavor announced that it has begun a formal review of strategic alternatives.No other company has a global portfolio like Endeavor — across sports, entertainment, fashion, live events, and premium experiences. Still, Endeavor believes there is a disconnect between its public market value and the intrinsic value of its underlying assets.Given that, Endeavor has decided to evaluate strategic alternatives to ensure it is maximizing value for EDR shareholders. As part of this review, Endeavor will not consider the sales or disposition of its interest in TKO.Endeavor has not set a deadline or definitive timetable for the completion of the process and there’s no guarantee of any specific outcome.We do not anticipate any changes to your day-to-day, and we will share more information when the need arises.
Email to staff from Endeavor & TKO CEO Ari Emanuel about Endeavor pursuing "strategic alternatives": ———— Today, Endeavor announced that it has begun a formal review of strategic alternatives.
No other company has a global portfolio like Endeavor — across sports,…
It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal with Andrew Zarian and I — available for free on YouTube. Just click above to watch.
We opened up the show talking about Ari Emanuel’s quotes about Vince McMahon and McMahon’s current role in TKO and WWE. We also talked about the following:
Bill Simmons’ comments on the Vince McMahon documentary he’s producing
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave an update on Vince McMahon being out of WWE’s creative process.
Meltzer reported last week that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is the person making all of the key decisions in creative right now. Meltzer noted that McMahon is out of the process at the moment.
Meltzer stated on WOR that the decision was made by Endeavor/TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel.
“Vincent Kennedy McMahon was the guy making all the decisions, and now, Vince was in fact overruled, even though when he merged the company he was told that this would not happen. It did happen. And it’s a really interesting thing. And that statement when Ari Emanuel was talking about the reasons the stock is down and he mentioned Vince’s name. So it is very interesting I think what is going to happen,” Meltzer said.
“Vince’s power is clearly marginalized. There’s no way around that.”
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated also reported last Friday that Emanuel was behind the change.
“Multiple contacts within the WWE and UFC have confirmed that Ari Emanuel, who wields power as the Endeavor CEO, is behind the change,” Barrasso wrote. “Emanuel has long been a firm believer that, in order for an organization to be as effective as possible, people need to do the job they are assigned. In this case, that approach has empowered Levesque to exert his full influence in the company’s creative sphere.”
Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE became official last month. WWE and the UFC have been merged into one publicly traded company named TKO Group Holdings.
McMahon has the job title of executive chairman of the board in TKO. Levesque is WWE’s chief content officer.
Endeavor and TKO Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel spoke about the state of WWE TV rights negotiations during an interview with Bloomberg Live.
TKO announced a deal for WWE SmackDown to return to the USA Network last month. While the deal is a 40 percent increase from the previous one, TKO’s stock price fell significantly after it was announced.
When speaking about a potential rights fee for Raw, Emanuel noted that WWE’s flexible schedule gives them an advantage over sports leagues such as the NBA.
“We got a 40 percent increase for SmackDown. We have Raw, which is the number one package available. There’s three rights coming available to market, three big rights: WWE Raw, UFC, NBA. We are involved in two of them. There’s six buyers. Plus, I would say, WWE Network, which is up in 2026,” he said.
“You cannot undervalue the WWE and UFC for the following reasons: 1) We do not have a season,” Emanuel continued.
“We’re 52 weeks a year and we’re flexible. You want us Thursday night? You want us Tuesday? I don’t have any of those scheduling issues. And that churn issue, because we’re the full year, is so much different from any other sport because then people turn out. That’s one of the issues with sports.”
“Our fans are loyal. They stick around and they stay with and they move.”
Emanuel continued to say that he does not feel an NBA rights deal will need to be finalized before one for WWE Raw can be.
“I would say to you, there’s plenty of interest in Raw right now,” Emanuel continued. “I know people are like ‘Well, NBC is out of the mix’ and that’s why (the stock) went down.”
On September 20, TKO Group Holdings stock was valued at $105.71 per share. When the stock closed on September 21, the day the TV rights deal for SmackDown was announced, the stock was down to $96.16 per share. As of this writing, the stock is now at $80.09 per share.
Emanuel explained why he believes the stock price has fallen in recent weeks.
“I think there’s three things that happened. 1) The reason the stock is down is what (the market) thought, that Raw was the best package. I thought a 40 percent increase, which was in line with expectation, was good. 2) The PFL situation. 3) Vince, in our deal, wanted to be able to put, at any point in time, his stock.”
A “put-option” allows a stock holder to sell a specified amount of stock at a predetermined price within a specified time frame.
Regarding the PFL situation Emanuel mentioned, the promotion sold a minority stake to the Saudi-backed SRJ Sports Investments last month. The value of the deal was reported by the Financial Times to be worth $100 million.
“WWE makes over $100 million from the Saudis for a five year deal for two events. It came from that group that does events in Saudi,” Emanuel said.
“It was announced actually today, I don’t know if you saw, we’re doing an event with the UFC in Saudi. And they said there’s no exclusivity, which is an indication that that was for events. We were bringing them an event. And so I think that will calm some nerves. And so now we have two big things to go out to market with.”
Emanuel was asked about Endeavor working with the Saudi government after returning a $400 million investment from them in 2019 in the wake of the Jamal Khashoggi murder.
“I didn’t want them, at the time, in our – we weren’t public at the time – in our investor stack,” Emanuel said.
“I didn’t say that we would never do business. I just didn’t want them in the financial stack of our investors. We distribute there now, soccer league through IMG. Because of WWE, we’re in business with them for at least five years. Two events a year. Great. They just bought an event from us for the UFC. Great price we’re doing. The event will be an unbelievable card.”
“So I just, at the time, didn’t feel comfortable for many reasons, which has been stated. But we’re in business with them now.”
WWE held an employee meeting in Stamford, Conneticut on Tuesday following the company’s merger with UFC last week.
PWInsider reported that Nick Khan, Triple H, Kevin Dunn, and Brad Blum started the meeting. Out of those names, Khan was the only person who spoke, putting over Vince McMahon and said it was unfortunate to have departures, but thanked those for their hard work.
Khan then introduced McMahon, who praised Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, calling him “my new boss”. McMahon said that the company had plateaued, and this was the deal needed in order to reach the next level.
McMahon introduced Emanuel, who said he had sought advice from McMahon in the past and was excited for this new era. He also noted that his daughter, Ashlee, works in WWE. PWInsider noted that she had been with the company for some time, well before WWE’s acquisition. Fightful reported that she is a creative assistant.
The deal for Endeavor to acquire WWE finalized last Tuesday. With the acquisition, Endeavor put WWE and UFC and has placed them in a new public company called TKO. Cuts within WWE took place last Friday.
