Court Evidence Suggests Endeavor Execs Planned Vince McMahon's 2023 WWE Return

With the ongoing WWE Shareholder lawsuit having now reached its discovery phase, more information has begun to come out. And a recent revelation calls into question certain elements regarding Vince McMahon's initial retirement from WWE in the summer of 2022. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and POST Wrestling reports that, hours after McMahon's announcement, then Endeavor executive and current TKO Holdings President Mark Shapiro sent messages to TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer and then Endeavor CFO Jason Lublin. 

In these messages, Shapiro stated Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan would "take over WWE for the next nine months" before Vince McMahon would return to an executive position, via a new board of directors, and then either take the company private or "sell it/coming to us." Shapiro's comments turned out to be true, albeit off by three months, as McMahon ultimately returned to power in January 2023, reappointing himself to WWE's board of directors, as well as installing George Barrios and Michelle Wilson to the board following several resignations. Shortly after McMahon's return, WWE announced it was up for sale, and three months later merged with Endeavor to form TKO. 

While it's unclear what prompted him to make such claims, Shapiro's messages could be seen as evidence that Endeavor executives were planning, or knew of, McMahon's 2023 return at the time of his announced retirement. Among other evidence is correspondence between McMahon and Endeavor/TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, including messages where McMahon set up an August 10 meeting between himself, Emanuel, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan, despite McMahon having retired from WWE 19 days earlier. An August 18 exchange between McMahon and Emanuel reveals Emanuel telling McMahon "I'll be your greatest partner." The context of that quote remains unclear

Another exchange shows McMahon communicating with Emanuel on August 22 regarding McMahon meeting with Jeff Sine, a senior banker for The Raine Group, which later served as WWE's financial adviser during sale negotiations. McMahon and Emanuel agreed to talk the next day prior to McMahon going to Italy, and Emanuel suggested even flying to Europe to meet with McMahon in person. Three days later, Raine's managing director Christopher Donini "emailed materials" to Lublin and Schleimer. Sine was CC'd to the email, which discussed "high level overview materials" and "sensitivities" related to "Project Stunner."

The "Project Stunner" name is believed to be both a code name for WWE's potential sale, as well as the name of a chat on the app Signal. A February 2023 correspondence between Khan and McMahon shows Khan responded to an exchange McMahon sent between him, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H, and Executive Director Bruce Prichard regarding WrestleMania 39's creative direction with the word "Langis." When McMahon questioned the meaning of the word, Khan told him to read it backwards, aka Signal.

The exchange not only contradicted statements Khan made about McMahon not being involved in creative a month later, but suggests WWE executives were using the Signal app to conceal any involvement McMahon had with the promotion even before returning. The plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit have alleged key communications between WWE higher ups " were not properly preserved on Signal." They believe this allowed WWE to circumvent "special preservation measures required during mergers and acquisitions," and thus could factor heavily into the lawsuit.

Other evidence shows McMahon was communicating with Sine around the same time as Donini's email to Lublin and Schleimer. McMahon and Sine's exchange shows Sine was seeking to represent McMahon in a future WWE sale. After initially expressing reluctance, McMahon stated he "loved the idea" a few days later after Sine stressed his role would be "for you only, not Ari or Endeavor."