WWE’s Merger Date With The UFC Announced

WWE and Endeavor dropped a new press release on Thursday, announcing Endeavor’s merger of WWE and the UFC into the new company TKO Group Holdings is expected to be completed on Sept. 12. The full release reads, “Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) (‘Endeavor’) and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) (‘WWE’) today announced they expect to close the previously announced transaction to form TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (‘TKO’) on September 12, 2023, at which time TKO will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘TKO’.” 

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel will become the CEO of TKO Group and the company will own 51% of the ownership stake. WWE will have the remaining 49% stake with Vince McMahon serving as executive chairman. 

Will Vince McMahon Stay With WWE After The Merger?

While he initially announced his retirement from all of his positions within WWE in July 2022 in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations, McMahon forced his way back into the company by demanding WWE’s Board of Directors reinstate him as executive chairman in order to oversee the sale of the company. While the Board initially rejected his offer, McMahon was officially reinstated in January after he threatened to use to voting power he still had from his Class B stock ownership to prevent any sale or upcoming media rights deal. 

Upon McMahon’s return, WWE officials consistently stated that he would not return to his previous role as WWE’s booker and that Paul “Triple H” Levesque would continue his role as chief content officer. However, reports of McMahon changing WWE’s booking plans started making their way online shortly afterward.

Mere days before he underwent serious spinal surgery in July, McMahon was issued a federal grand jury subpoena and was subject to a search warrant. He has since taken a step back from his role within WWE to recover from the surgery.

However, Emanuel claimed in an interview with CNBC back when the merger was announced in April that he had zero interest in letting McMahon leave — “I would have bodyslammed him if he thought he thought he was going to leave. Here’s a man who has seen around the corner at every beat over the last 40 years of this business and has a vision of this business way before a lot of people see it. Him now being able to utilize what we’ve built in our flywheel, I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I have Vince McMahon, a visionary that sees around the corner, I have Dana White and what we’ve built. That’s pretty unstoppable.”