According to a report from POST Wrestling, Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, Mark Shapiro, and Paul Levesque are scheduled to testify in the shareholder lawsuit over the TKO merger, which is set to go to trial starting on June 8 in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
POST Wrestling also notes other notable witnesses include former WWE executives and Board members George Barrios, Michelle Wilson and Frank Riddick, former WWE Board member Steve Koonin, banker Jeff Sine who advised WWE in making the deal, TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer and TKO chief strategy officer Mark Zhu.
The lawsuit alleges that McMahon organized the TKO deal back in 2023 in order to save his own personal standing within the company, after a number of sexual misconduct allegations that became public in 2022. The plaintiffs claim McMahon only trusted Emanuel and UFC’s owner Endeavor would allow McMahon to stay on after a finalized deal. The plaintiffs also claim that other bidders were not allowed to have a fair chance at purchasing WWE, thus resulting in WWE shareholders being shortchanged. If they prevail, shareholders could be awarded potentially hundreds of millions.
The lawsuit was filed by a group of WWE shareholders who feel the process to merge WWE with UFC, which then created TKO was a predetermined process designed by McMahon to keep himself in power within the new entity. The shareholders feel that because of that, they did not received WWE’s full potential value following the sale of the company.
Liberty Media CEO Marty Patterson is also on the witness list as the company was among those bidding for WWE.
McMahon held his position as Executive Chairman up until January 26, 2024. He resigned the next day after former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a federal lawsuit alleging sex trafficking, sexual abuse and harassment.