Real Story Behind TKO’s Control of WWE Creative Has Finally Been Told — and It Explains Everything

Dave Meltzer has provided critical context around comments made by TKO president Mark Shapiro to a University of Alabama class about TKO having “complete control” of WWE creative — and the picture that emerges from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is of executives who almost never use that authority but did so at what sources described as the absolute worst moment. The Shapiro comments had been recorded and spread widely online ahead of WrestleMania 42.

Meltzer wrote that while TKO’s Ari Emanuel and Shapiro do technically have final say over WWE creative, “they almost never use it.” The report then delivered the key detail — “It was said that in this situation, they used it at the most inopportune time. There was a ton of chaos regarding those on the wrestling side who didn’t want the McAfee and Jelly Roll involvement in a world title match they had been slowly building for months and how the celebrities took the focus away.”

Meltzer Reports One Person Saw the TKO vs. WWE Creative Conflict Coming a Full Year Before WrestleMania 42

The report also indicated that the tension between TKO executives and WWE‘s creative team was not a sudden development. “One person noted seeing the TKO Executives vs. WWE creative team battle coming for a year and said there was a lot of internal jockeying going on and that it was encouraged by Ari Emanuel and Shapiro.” Meltzer also noted that “everyone acknowledges that at the end of the day, they have complete control, but they rarely use it and the complaint this year was that when they use it, it’s at the worst time.” The McAfee involvement has since unraveled completely — with McAfee opting out of post-WrestleMania plans including the Backlash tag match following the overwhelmingly negative fan reaction.