WWE's Paul Levesque & Nick Khan Accused Of Destroying Evidence In Shareholder Lawsuit

Following some developments late last year, the WWE shareholder lawsuit is back in the headlines. On December 19, a judge ordered that documents pertaining to the 2022 investigation of Vince McMahon's conduct be turned over to the plaintiffs, a bombshell that was followed up only days later with evidence that suggested Endeavor had known McMahon would be returning to the company months before it occurred. Now, another bombshell from the case has dropped. 

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and POST Wrestling reports that a new motion from plaintiffs has them asking that the defendants, including McMahon, Nick Khan, and Paul Levesque, be reprimanded for "alleged destruction of relevant evidence." The plaintiffs claim that McMahon, Khan, Levesque, and non-defendants Stephanie McMahon and Brad Blum failed to preserve communications, such as messages on the messaging app Signal and handwritten notes from McMahon, despite orders to preserve them being sent to WWE legal.

The plaintiffs further claim that Khan was the main culprit behind the lost evidence, suggesting he "spearheaded" the Signal communications between all involved. Khan is further alleged to have used Signal due to its auto-delete function, which allows users to set messages to delete whenever they choose. Based on available context, the plaintiffs also claim that Khan deleted text messages which "included merger discussions and the investigation of alleged misconduct by McMahon."

Perhaps the biggest news regarding this motion, however, is the allegation of a December 2022 meeting between McMahon, Stephanie, and Endeavor/TKO executives Mark Shapiro and Ari Emanuel. Said to have occurred on December 13, the meeting would've taken place just days before reports emerged that McMahon was looking to return to WWE, and a little less than a month before he would force his return to WWE's board of directors. At the time, many believed McMahon's return contributed to Stephanie's resignation from WWE days later, though the plaintiff's allegations suggest the two continued working together even after McMahon's retirement.

The alleged December meeting will raise eyebrows thanks to the aforementioned late December motion by the plaintiffs. In their filing, evidence showed a correspondence between McMahon and Emanuel that appeared to set up an August 10 meeting that would've featured the two, Stephanie, and Khan only weeks after McMahon retired from WWE. It was unclear if the proposed August meeting between the two sides actually took place, or whether the alleged December 13 meeting is related to it.