Major WWE Events Safe, Despite Mark Shapiro's Comments

WWE plans to hold on to its marquee PLEs, dispelling fears that they may be replaced in the future, which some inferred from a recent comment by TKO COO Mark Shapiro.

Shapiro recently stated that TKO intends to move past PLEs created by former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, explaining how the newest WWE PLE, WrestlePalooza, is the start of that trend. However, "Fightful Select" has reported that a source in WWE has informed them that Shapiro may have been referring to monthly PLEs, rather than the bigger PLEs that they have. The same source also clarified that Saudi Arabia has only paid to get WrestleMania to its country and not WrestlePalooza. WrestlePalooza was the first PLE to air on ESPN as part of the deal between WWE and the sports broadcasting giant to broadcast PLEs domestically.

The report also added that two cities — New Orleans and Indianapolis — have deals with WWE to host more SummerSlams and WrestleManias in the future than what has been announced. New Orleans was originally supposed to host next year's WrestleMania, but it was moved back to Las Vegas for the second year running. Indianapolis had also signed a deal in 2024 to host three of the big four PLEs — WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble– in the city.

Aside from creating new PLEs, Shapiro recently outlined how TKO is keen to raise ticket prices — despite WWE already having increased them over the past year or so — claiming that McMahon hadn't fully maximized profits from ticket sales.