Ari Emanuel wanted WWE and UFC under the same roof, and a leaked voicemail now shows he was personally trying to calm Vince McMahon while legal heat was hanging over him.
The message was sent in September 2022, after McMahon had publicly stepped away from WWE following the company’s investigation into sexual misconduct allegations and millions in nondisclosure agreements. Vince was out of the office, but he still controlled WWE as majority shareholder, and that meant any sale still ran through him.
In the leaked voicemail, Emanuel told McMahon he had spoken with his lawyer at Latham & Watkins and brought up connections tied to the Department of Justice.
“I spoke to my lawyer from Latham. Just FYI, everybody at the DOJ is former Latham lawyers. So on that side, it will be helpful. SEC, of course, is SEC, but that’s just the penalty. As it relates to everything else, yes, we can indemnify you, and we will.”
That indemnify line is the big one. It means covering legal costs or losses in certain situations. Emanuel later denied in a deposition that McMahon was ever indemnified by Endeavor or by Emanuel personally. Emanuel also tried to draw a line between civil trouble and criminal trouble, while telling Vince he didn’t see the situation as criminal.
“If it’s criminal, of course, you can’t stop criminal, but this is not criminal. Call me when you get a chance.”
A few days later, Emanuel left another message saying they needed to get together and talk through the legal issues.
“I really do think that we all need to get together and talk through all the issues. Because I think whether it be the DOJ or anything, there’s ways around this to figure this out.”
McMahon was never charged with a crime. The SEC later ordered him to repay WWE $1.3 million tied to stock sales and pay a $400,000 penalty, without admitting wrongdoing. Janel Grant later filed a federal sex trafficking lawsuit against McMahon and WWE in 2024, and McMahon has denied the allegations.
The leaked voicemail adds another nasty wrinkle to the WWE-UFC merger story. Emanuel wasn’t just talking business with Vince. He was talking legal problems, DOJ concerns, SEC penalties, and protection before the TKO deal ever became official.
What do you think about Ari Emanuel’s leaked voicemail to Vince McMahon? Drop your thoughts in the comments and let us know.
