TKO Shuts Down Rumors of WWE Sale Amid Vince McMahon Speculation

Speculation exploded this week that Vince McMahon might be plotting a return to power by buying back WWE—but it didn’t take long for TKO Group Holdings to shut that down hard.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, not only is TKO not selling, they’ve strongly denied any rumors suggesting they’re even open to the idea.

The conversation picked up after Jonathan Coachman and Vince Russo discussed the possibility that McMahon, who resigned from WWE and TKO earlier this year following a sexual trafficking lawsuit, could be planning a long-term return. Coachman said he’s heard from sources inside the industry who claim Vince still wants to regain control of WWE.

“I’ve been quoted a lot from this show the last week, everywhere, because I have conversations. People trust me. People call me. I talk to them because I don’t treat this like the end-all be-all. And the one thing that I’ve yet to be wrong about—anything. And so now all of a sudden I’m getting on all these websites because I have educated views and I also have people that are tipping me off. Now, do I know 100% he’s going to buy [WWE]? I know that he wants to.”

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Vince Russo added his own theory, suggesting McMahon might’ve known he’d have to step away temporarily and made a deal with TKO to act as a placeholder. In this scenario, McMahon would let TKO run the show, profit for a few years, and then buy the company back once his legal issues were resolved.

“What if Vince obviously knew what was coming down the pike? He obviously knew he was going to have to take a backseat—and he was going to have to take a backseat for a couple of years whether he liked it or not. What if he made the deal with Ari and TKO and they were the placeholder? You guys take care of this now. You make whatever you can make. You get X percentage. I get X percentage. And three years when this is all behind me—this is the price I pay you to get my baby back.”

Coachman agreed that the theory made sense, especially considering WWE’s recent focus on profit-driven strategies—like choosing Las Vegas over New Orleans for major events.

“That would explain them trying to make as much money now as they can. If Vince would have said, ‘You guys do whatever you want to do, you’re going to get X percent of what you make’—that would explain why we don’t care about New Orleans. We’re coming back to Vegas. Wow. Wow. My mind’s now going in a thousand different directions.”

They even speculated that the continued presence of longtime Vince allies like Bruce Prichard and Michael Hayes could support this idea.

“That could explain why a Bruce Prichard is still there. That’s why a Michael Hayes is still there. Could that explain a lot of that? That TKO is just the placeholder?”

Russo agreed.

“Absolutely. Absolutely.”

But Meltzer brought the conversation back to reality with a clear and direct update: TKO is not looking to sell WWE, and they’ve flatly denied the story all day long.

“The stories of him [Vince McMahon] somehow buying WWE, and I even saw a line in a story about how TKO is looking to sell WWE and it’s like, aside from that being denied all day, TKO has just saved between $100 million and $150 million by essentially removing so many jobs and things like that because they could operate UFC and WWE with the same office staff.”

In short, the financial math doesn’t support a sale. TKO has streamlined operations across UFC and WWE, cutting down redundancies and saving massive dollars. Selling WWE now—after investing so heavily into that efficiency—would make zero sense from a business perspective.

So while it’s fun to theorize about Vince McMahon plotting a comeback from the shadows, the numbers—and the public denial—paint a very different picture.

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