According to a report from POST Wrestling, per a new ruling in the WWE merger lawsuit, in which the shareholders’ challenge to the Endeavor deal that created TKO, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster found Vince McMahon and WWE President Nick Khan destroyed evidence.
The report also notes that as a consequence, the court will treat five damaging facts as presumptively true when the case goes to trial next month. The ruling is a significant setback for Vince McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, George Barrios, and Michelle Wilson, which the case will now be harder, specifically for McMahon and Khan to prevail against the shareholder plaintiffs’ allegations.
Laster listed the five presumed facts as follows:
-Emanuel’s promise to provide Vince with a continued role at any post-merger company after a transaction influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
-Emanuel’s offer of indemnification and other legal support related to pending federal investigations of Vince’s alleged misconduct influenced Vince’s decision-making with respect to the merger.
-Vince decided to pursue a transaction with Endeavor in 2022, before the Company initiated the strategic review process.
-Khan communicated with Emanuel between August and December 2022 to facilitate a transaction between WWE and Endeavor.
-Vince and Khan worked with [advisement firm] Raine to steer the process toward a deal with Endeavor and away from other potential bidders.
In addition to those five facts as listed above, the plaintiffs had requested two other facts to be presumed, which Laster did not grant. Those are as follows:
-Nick Khan knew about McMahon’s negotiations with Endeavor concerning a potential Merger in 2022
-McMahon received a non-ratable benefit from the Merger in the form of a continued role at TKO Group Holdings, Inc
The trial is scheduled to take place June 8 through June 12.