Shareholder plaintiffs within the WWE merger lawsuit have asked the Delaware Chancery Court to impose sanctions over allegedly deleted Signal messages and handwritten notes involving Vince McMahon and top company executives. The filing targets McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, and Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, accusing them of failing to preserve key records linked to the TKO merger. The plaintiffs argue that the alleged deletions undermine the integrity of the method that led to WWE’s merger with UFC under TKO Group Holdings.
In keeping with the brand new motion via POST Wrestling, the shareholders request antagonistic inferences at trial, which might allow the judge to assume that missing messages and notes would have been unfavorable to the executives. They state that WWE’s leaders ignored multiple legal hold notices requiring them to preserve communications once litigation became likely. Furthermore, former executives Stephanie McMahon and Brad Blum also used Signal despite those warnings, although they should not defendants within the case. The plaintiffs claim this conduct shows a pattern of attempting to keep merger discussions off conventional, everlasting channels.
The motion accuses Khan of spearheading using Signal for high-level conversations, including those tied to the merger and to investigations into misconduct allegations against Vince McMahon. Signal allows users to auto-delete messages after set periods. Nonetheless, the general public exhibits redact the precise deletion intervals for several key figures. Plaintiffs also allege that Khan deleted normal text messages that, based on other records, likely involved talks with Endeavor executives in the course of the 2023 deal process. Attorneys for Khan have previously stated that he doesn’t recall the content of any deleted messages identified in discovery.
A central recent allegation within the motion is that Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Khan met Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and president Mark Shapiro on December 13, 2022, to debate a possible merger. This was weeks before McMahon forced his way back onto WWE’s board and drove the push for a sale or merger. The filing positions that reported meeting alongside an earlier August 2022 interaction between McMahon and Emanuel, where McMahon sought to involve Khan and Stephanie in discussions. On the time of those meetings, Khan and Stephanie were co-CEOs, while McMahon was officially retired amid misconduct probes, yet remained WWE’s controlling shareholder.
The plaintiffs argue these contacts support their core claim that the WWE–UFC merger into TKO was rigged in Endeavor’s favor and predetermined by McMahon, with help from select executives and board members. In return, they allege, Emanuel promised McMahon a serious role within the post-merger company and assistance with federal investigations into his conduct. They defined McMahon’s July 2022 resignation as “pretextual,” saying the M&A final result was effectively locked in long before WWE ran a public sale process. Defendants, including McMahon, Khan, Levesque, and former board members George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, have denied wrongdoing.
Unsealed exhibits include an internal table prepared by McMahon’s lawyers that lists his Signal chats with quite a few figures, comparable to Khan, Emanuel, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque, Turki Al-Sheikh, Brock Lesnar, Bruce Prichard, Kevin Dunn, and former executive John Gaburick. Public versions of that table hide details about auto-delete settings for the executives the plaintiffs say didn’t preserve messages, in addition to for chats with Emanuel. One other exhibit shows a “WWE Record Hold Notice” dated May 23, 2023, considered one of several notices telling executives and directors to preserve communications in the course of the merger period. The plaintiffs allege that continued Signal use with auto-delete lively after these notices supports their sanctions request.
The filing also highlights a previously reported text exchange that proves Khan steered McMahon toward Signal for sensitive conversations. In that exchange, McMahon texted Khan in regards to the WrestleMania 2023 important event between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. Khan replied with “Langis,” and when McMahon asked what it meant, Khan told him to “Read it backwards!”, pointing to the Signal app. Plaintiffs argue this shows a deliberate try and move discussions off standard text messaging and onto an encrypted, auto-deleting platform.
If the shareholder class wins on the trial, which is currently scheduled for June, they may get well substantial monetary damages. Lawsuits over billion-dollar mergers often give attention to seemingly small differences in equity value that may translate into tens or tons of of thousands and thousands of dollars. The case also underscores why executives are routinely advised to preserve their communications during major M&A talks and sensitive investigations. Representatives for TKO, WWE, Vince McMahon, and Stephanie McMahon didn’t reply to requests for comment in regards to the December 2022 meeting or the sanctions motion.