In one of the biggest stories in professional wrestling history, Vince McMahon has officially returned to WWE following numerous sexual misconduct allegations, and is preparing an attempted sale of the company.
The shocking news comes as his daughter, and co-CEO and Chairwoman of WWE, Stephanie quit – marking her second departure from the company in just eight months.
She had taken a leave of absence in the middle of 2022, but just weeks later was asked to return to the company and take control after numerous allegations, and reports of hush money payouts, were levied at her 77-year-old father.
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He was forced to step down as chairman, CEO and head of creative after it was revealed $US19.6 million had been paid to at least four ex-female WWE employees in exchange for them signing nondisclosure agreements which prohibited them talking about their relationship with McMahon and any allegations of sexual misconduct.
That left McMahon’s daughter and Nick Khan, the former agent who joined WWE in mid-2020 and quickly rose up the ranks to become co-CEO, in charge.
But, reportedly having felt he was given ‘bad advice’ to step down, McMahon returned to the company just days ago claiming he was in the best position to “maximise value for all WWE shareholders”.
Days later WWE confirmed McMahon was back as executive chairman – he had always been the majority shareholder giving him power over the company even after stepping down – installing allies Michelle Wilson and George Barrios (former co-presidents who he fired several years ago) on the board.
Three board members were removed while another two resigned upon McMahon’s return.
Now McMahon is angling for a sale, with WWE confirming it has hired three groups to advise on the sale – The Raine Group LLC, Kirkland & Ellis LLP and August LLP. The former advised on UFC’s sale to Endeavor in 2016.
While a few outlets reported a deal had been struck between WWE and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – worth some $AU896 billion, and the owners of both Premier League side Newcastle United and LIV Golf – that is not the case. Yet, at least.
The Saudis are believed to be one of the groups interested, along with the aforementioned Endeavor. A leading contender is Comcast/NBC Universal, which in the States broadcasts Raw on the USA Network and now owns what was the WWE Network, showing pay per views on its Peacock streaming platform.
The Khan family, Shahid and his son Tony, are believed to be interested as well. Tony runs WWE’s main competitor All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and CNBC reported the company would be interested in merging with its larger rival.
However this seems incredibly unlikely if McMahon has any say in the eventual sale; there would be nothing he would hate more than being purchased by a rival wrestling company.
Axios reported Stephanie McMahon and her husband Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, the current head of creative, were against a sale.
If WWE is bought and taken private, following its 1999 public listing on the stockmarket which turned it into a billion-dollar property, that should allow McMahon to return to his previous roles including as head of creative – despite his numerous scandals and a general view from analysts the quality of the product declined in the last years of his leadership.
WWE has worked closely with Saudi Arabia for almost a decade, landing enormous deals to hold major live events in the Middle East, as part of the country’s continued attempts to clean up its image. Saudi Arabia has long been ranked one of the world’s worst nations for human rights abuses and allegedly murdered and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
It is unclear what a sale to the PIF would mean for performers such as Sami Zayn, who is Syrian – the Saudi government reportedly asked for him to be removed from shows in their country due to his ethnicity – and others who have refused to travel there after wrestlers and crew were reportedly “held hostage” after a show and briefly not allowed to fly home over a pay dispute.
The benefit for wrestlers could be in massive pay increases. While competition from AEW and WWE’s locked-in profits from their TV deals (and existing Saudi deal) have driven up contract sizes, a Saudi-owned WWE could easily blow any other company out of the water to sign wrestling’s biggest names.