The last couple of days has sent the UFC and WWE fan communities into a frenzy. Endeavor announced they have successfully acquired WWE in an all-stock deal. Endeavor Group is the parent company of the UFC, which they purchased in a whopping $4.2 billion deal in 2016. The entire deal was kept very hush-hush, since the very initial stage. Thankfully, WWE chairman Vince McMahon made an appearance soon after to speak more on the same.
Ari Emanuel is the Hollywood power broker behind Endeavor Group and its 20+ acquisitions so far. The business mogul appeared alongside the WWE head honcho in a CNBC interview to discuss the future of the company. As per the deal, the UFC and WWE will be combined to create a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company. Both organizations will act as one publicly listed company, with Endeavor Group attaining a 51% stake in the new company.
Ari Emanuel and Vince McMahon on CNBC pic.twitter.com/filjn2Dcz8
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) April 3, 2023
During the CNBC interview, Vince declared he was done being the authority figure on TV. Upon asking about the possibility of his character’s return on the screen, The 77-year-old shared, “Mr. McMahon is dead.” Right after, Ari added that the said decision to retire the fictional character was solely Vince’s choice. The 62-year-old added, “His choice, purely his choice.”
Who will eventually replace Vince McMahon?
Apparently, Vince has been really adamant about taking a back seat after achieving arguably the most successful career in the industry. During a segment in the above interview, Ari mentioned at one point Vince was set to walk away from his duties with WWE if it were to help with the acquisition. Despite McMahon‘s persistence, Ari added that he will not try to involve himself with WWE’s creative division as it will always be Vince’s lane.
Despite the acquisition in place, it is still unclear as to how this merger will affect the UFC and WWE’s creative operations, staff, and more going forward. Ari even fooled around that he would have “bodyslammed” Vince if he had decided to leave WWE for good.
Triple H to keep his role in WWE creative.
W?#WrestleMania https://t.co/2n595gcUEU pic.twitter.com/4Reemhkurd
— Wrestlelamia.co.uk (@wrestlelamia) April 3, 2023
It is worth noting that in July of last year, Paul Levesque, better known as ‘Triple H‘ took on the responsibilities of the Chief Content Offer. The brass placed Paul in this position in light of Vince McMahon’s temporary retirement. The 77-year-old was facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations, which forced him to resign from his position as the chairman of the company at the time.
However, Vince returned earlier this year as the executive chairman. The note-worthy thing here is that he let Tripel H continue leading the creative division even after his return. This substantiates the prediction that ‘Triple H’ will be working along with his wife Stephanie McMahon, who the company had temporarily designated as the co-CEO and chairwoman during Vince’s short retirement stint.