A little bit lower than two weeks remain before the WWE Shareholder lawsuit officially goes to trial, but already former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and several other other defendants have been dealt a major blow. Bloomberg reports that McMahon and WWE President Nick Khan were sanctioned by Delaware Chancery Court judge J. Travis Laster in a ruling made on Wednesday.
Laster’s ruling was presented in a 40 page opinion, which revealed the first reason behind the sanction was McMahon and Khan’s usage of the messaging app Signal. Laster ruled that McMahon and Khan had “acted recklessly” by changing their respective settings on Signal, which allowed the app to delete certain messages regarding WWE’s 2023 merger with Endeavor, which the plaintiffs imagine show WWE never seriously considered other offers.
The outcomes of Laster’s sanctions could possibly be significant, because it now means the burden of proof has shifted from the plaintiffs towards the defense, including McMahon, Khan, former WWE board members George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, and current WWE chief content officer Paul Lesveque. As such, the defendants will now need to prove the plaintiffs accusations against them will not be true, such claims that McMahon was trying to sell to Endeavor well before the sale process had begun, thus making the merger a forgone conclusion.
The sanction news comes just days after it was reported that McMahon and Endeavor/TKO CEO Ari Emanuel were set to testify on the trial, as witnesses for each the defense and plaintiffs. Khan, Levesque, and TKO President Mark Shapiro are also set to testify, while former WWE CEO Stephanie McMahon is listed as a witness for the plaintiffs, though it stays uncertain whether she is going to give live testimony or provide and already recorded deposition.