While WWE spent its WrestleMania XL weekend distancing itself from Vince McMahon as much as possible, the company’s former chairman was busy making moves of his own.
Since resigning from the company in January following a lawsuit from a former employee accusing him of sexual misconduct including assault and trafficking, McMahon has been selling his TKO Group Holdings stock at a rapid pace. Last week, McMahon’s ownership of TKO stock fell below 5 percent — a significant figure as it no longer requires his transactions to be reported publicly — and he has reportedly already registered to sell what’s left of his stock in the company.
The biggest question is why? The easiest answer is that it’s a matter of common sense.
McMahon is 78-years-old and persona non grata in the very company he helped build into a global empire. He has no path back and won’t be handing WWE down to his children, as had long been the assumption prior to last year’s merger with UFC to form TKO. Considering his ongoing legal battles and age, why not cash out — McMahon has reportedly sold $1.5 billion worth of TKO stock since November and his remaining shares are currently valued at more than $780 million — while TKO’s stock is healthy?
But for better or worse — and often time it was worse — common sense has never been McMahon’s M.O. That’s why it has been curious to see multiple wrestling outlets even entertain the idea of the former WWE chairman using his newfound cashflow to start a new pro wrestling promotion of his own.
“The big topic when it comes to Vince is — and I’ve talked to several people and written several people as well, key people in the business — you think he’s gonna try to come back and do something on his own?” the Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Dave Meltzer said on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Both Meltzer and his co-host, Bryan Alvarez, expressed skepticism over the possibility, with both agreeing that McMahon would have a hard time finding people who would want to work with him for personal and professional reasons alike. Still, money has always mattered in pro wrestling and McMahon now has plenty of it at a time in which several stars are set to become free agents in the near future.
“There was one person talking to me who was saying that he would [start a new promotion] and I was saying like, ‘Who’s he going to get? Everyone’s under contract to AEW and WWE.’ And it’s like, ‘There’s a lot of people whose contracts are up this year and he’s got $2 billion and people will go if you want to pay enough,'” Meltzer said. “I don’t see it. I don’t think it’s a wise move.”
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston also discussed the possibility of McMahon starting his own wrestling promotion on Sunday’s episode of Wrestlenomics Radio and like Meltzer and Alvarez, neither ruled it out, but both considered it highly unlikely. Thurston also noted that McMahon is currently bound to a noncompete agreement, which means the earliest he could do anything in the wrestling space outside of WWE would be next January.
Following up on a question we were asked Wednesday on Pollock & Thurston, Vince McMahon's March 2023 employment agreement contained a 12-month non-compete covenant. Not that there's any specific indication he will, but if Vince were to try to re-enter the wrestling business… pic.twitter.com/XUg8BAPJoI
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) April 12, 2024
The skepticism is justified — it’s hard to imagine a 78-year-old man who has effectively been canceled by society starting a high profile business venture that would be largely dependent on his ability to secure a TV rights deal. Even putting aside the question of “who would be willing to work for Vince McMahon in 2025?,” the pro wrestling business is plenty healthy between WWE’s unprecedented success and AEW now in its fifth year of existence. Even if he was able to lure a few stars with big money contracts, is there really room for a third major pro wrestling promotion.
And yet — again — McMahon has never been bound by conventional wisdom.
This is a man who revolutionized pro wrestling with a national and event-driven approach and proved prescient in pivoting to streaming with the launch of the WWE Network in 2014. This is also a man who tried to take the NFL on in 2001 with the XFL and who responded to the first wave of allegations of sexual misconduct against him in 2022 by needlessly appearing on an episode of WWE SmackDown.
Even after initially retiring from WWE following the initial allegations and revelations, McMahon found a way to force his way back into the company and help facilitate the merger with UFC. Say what you will about McMahon — and there’s certainly plenty to say — but he is undeniably bold. Starting a new wrestling promotion in the face of controversy would hardly be out of character.
Thanks to the noncompete, none of this could happen until next year at the earliest and until then, one would imagine that McMahon will continue to stay out of the public spotlight. But once his noncompete is up, it will be worth monitoring what McMahon does next, as the odds of him starting a new wrestling promotion are at least better than no chance in hell.
