Vince McMahon and several top WWE executives just took a massive hit in court ahead of the upcoming trial over WWE’s merger with UFC under the TKO banner — and the judge’s latest ruling could create serious problems for their defense once the case officially begins next month.
According to a new ruling from Delaware Chancery Court Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster, McMahon and WWE leadership were sanctioned for “acting recklessly” after Signal messages connected to the WWE-UFC merger discussions were deleted despite legal orders instructing them to preserve communications.
The sanctions stem from the shareholder lawsuit challenging how WWE’s 2023 merger with Endeavor was handled. Shareholders claim McMahon pushed WWE toward Endeavor because Ari Emanuel would keep him involved with the company despite ongoing sexual misconduct allegations becoming public. McMahon and the other defendants have denied those accusations.
The ruling now gives shareholders a huge advantage heading into trial. Judge Laster stated that certain facts will now be presumed true against McMahon and WWE President Nick Khan unless they can overcome a much higher legal standard in court.
Among the key points the judge will now assume to be true at trial are allegations that McMahon’s decisions around the merger were influenced by promises from Ari Emanuel that he would stay involved with WWE and receive support connected to federal investigations into misconduct claims against him. The court will also presume McMahon had already decided to pursue a deal with Endeavor before WWE officially began reviewing possible buyers.
The opinion also accuses Nick Khan of helping facilitate communications with Endeavor leadership before the formal review process even began. The judge further stated there is evidence McMahon and Khan worked with financial advisers to steer negotiations toward Endeavor while moving away from other potential bidders that may have offered WWE shareholders a stronger deal.
One of the more damaging parts of the ruling centers around deleted Signal chats. WWE’s assistant general counsel instructed executives twice — once in June 2022 and again in January 2023 — to preserve all documents, text messages, and electronic communications related to the situation. The court found those instructions were ignored.
Judge Laster stated that McMahon, Khan, and others changed Signal auto-delete settings after preservation orders had already been issued. The ruling specifically noted voicemails from Ari Emanuel and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro that connected the merger talks with the misconduct allegations surrounding McMahon, suggesting the missing Signal conversations likely covered both topics.
The court opinion also pointed to what it described as extensive “backchannelling” during negotiations. One exchange included Khan sending McMahon a cryptic message that read “Langis.” When McMahon asked what it meant, Khan replied:
“Read it backwards.”
That detail immediately drew attention because “Langis” spelled backward reads “Signal.”
McMahon’s legal team argued that he ultimately turned over more than 22,000 messages across multiple platforms. However, the missing Signal data reportedly could not be recovered until late 2025 after devices seized by federal investigators were finally returned.
The broader lawsuit continues to focus on whether McMahon improperly controlled WWE’s merger process to protect his own power inside the company. The 2023 deal created TKO Group Holdings by combining WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship under the same corporate umbrella. McMahon later resigned from TKO in January 2024 after additional allegations surfaced in Janel Grant’s federal lawsuit, which he has denied.
The trial is scheduled to begin June 8 in Delaware Court of Chancery and will not involve a jury. Witnesses expected to be involved include McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro and several former WWE board members tied to the merger process.
This latest ruling puts even more pressure on McMahon and WWE’s leadership heading into what could become one of the most revealing legal battles in company history. Between the deleted messages, allegations of backroom negotiations, and claims that WWE shareholders were denied a fair process, the trial now has the potential to expose internal conversations and decision-making that WWE executives likely never expected to become public.
What do you think about the court sanctioning Vince McMahon and WWE executives ahead of the TKO merger trial? Do you think this changes the outcome of the case? Let us know in the comments.
