The long-term TV deals with Netflix, NBCUniversal and The CW were not considered to be at risk, but with NBCUniversal’s rights for the WWE’s premium events coming up in 2026, and with UFC rights talks upcoming in 2025, keeping McMahon as executive chairman of TKO while the lawsuit unfolded could have been problematic. Sources say that TKO executives reached out to all of the company’s rights partners after the news broke, well aware of the need to keep them in the loop on what was happening.
The blockbuster Netflix deal also has an opt-out clause in five years, giving Netflix an exit should McMahon continue to weigh on the company. The timing of the Netflix deal, one source said, was “fortuitous,” speculating that had the suit been filed earlier, the deal could have been put in jeopardy. Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria, asked about McMahon and his relationship with the WWE during a Jan. 31 press conference, told reporters: “He’s gone. So he’s not there. He’s gone,” suggesting that the streaming giant was betting that its WWE deal would be a post-McMahon one.
According to multiple sources, the lawsuit and the graphic details included in it took senior leadership at TKO and company talent by surprise. Acknowledging that the lawsuit hung like a “dark cloud” over the weekend, Cody Rhodes, the WWE superstar who won the Royal Rumble match, added in a Jan. 27 press event that “as far as TKO, [WWE president] Nick Khan and the board clearly took it very seriously, acted immediately.”
