Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan & Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque Set To Testify In Merger Trial
Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, and Paul Levesque will be testifying.
Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling and Wrestlenomics has an update on the WWE merger trial. Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel, Nick Khan, and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque are set to testify.
Those four names involved with the TKO merger are only a few of the witnesses who’ll be testifying in the shareholder lawsuit trial. The trial begins on June 8th in the Delaware Court of Chancery. A pre-trial order was submitted, which included the aforementioned names.
The lawsuit alleges that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon set up the TKO deal to make sure his standing in WWE was kept firm. This came after the sexual misconduct allegations against McMahon arose in the summer of 2022. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are claiming that McMahon went with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel as the buyer because of their pre-existing relationship and the security of Emanuel keeping McMahon on board post-merger. The plaintiffs feel that other bidders did not have a fair shot at attempting to acquire WWE.
Plaintiffs and defendants plan to call on McMahon and Emanuel as live witnesses in the courtroom. Also on the plaintiffs’ list is Nick Khan, TKO executive Mark Shapiro, and Raine banker Jeff Sine, who advised WWE on the merger deal.
Vince McMahon has separate legal counsel from his fellow defendants, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, and former WWE Board members George Barrios and Michelle Wilson.
Below is the list of names who are intended to be called live/could be called on in court:
Plaintiffs intend to call live:
- Vince McMahon, then-WWE/TKO Executive Chairman
- Ari Emanuel, TKO CEO & Chairman, and then-Endeavor CEO
- Mark Shapiro, TKO President & COO, Endeavor President
- Jeffrey Sine, Raine banker
- Frank Riddick, then-WWE Chief Financial Officer and board member
- Andrew Schleimer, TKO CFO and then-UFC CFO
- Brendan Houlihan, expert witness
- James Canessa, expert witness
Plaintiffs may call live or by deposition:
- Jeffrey Speed, then-WWE board member
- Stephanie McMahon, then-WWE executive and board member
- Marty Patterson, Liberty Media President & CEO
- Steve Pamon, then-WWE board member
Defendants intend to call live (several witnesses also appear on the plaintiffs’ list):
- George Barrios, then-WWE board member and former WWE executive
- Brad Blum, former WWE executive
- Ari Emanuel
- Daniel Lee, Moelis Managing Director (an advisor in the process)
- Paul Finger, JP Morgan Managing Director (advisor)
- Nick Khan, WWE President and then-board member
- Steve Koonin, TKO board member, then-WWE board member
- Paul Levesque, WWE Chief Content Officer, then-WWE board member and executive
- Vince McMahon
- Frank Riddick
- Andrew Schleimer
- Mark Shapiro
- Jeffrey Sine
- Michelle Wilson, then-WWE board member and former WWE executive
- Mark Zhu, TKO Chief Strategy Officer and then-Endeavor executive
- Doug Perlman, expert witness
- Professor Steven Salaga, expert witness
- Professor David C. Smith, expert witness
- Matthew Archer, shareholder plaintiff
- Dennis Palkon, shareholder plaintiff
Cases in the Delaware Court of Chancery are decided by the judge as opposed to the jury. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster will be presiding over the case.
