Wrestling veteran lays out issues with WWE going public (Exclusive)

September 2023 saw a huge change in WWE, as the company merged with Endeavor, which also owns UFC. They merged to form TKO Group Holdings, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake as compared to WWE's stakeholders' 49% stake.

The merger was established at the New York Stock Exchange on September 12, 2023. Speaking about it on The Wrestling Outlaws on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, wrestling veteran Vince Russo laid out some problems the global juggernaut, creatively led by Triple H, would likely be facing due to it being public.

"Well, if they can make adjustments, man, but now they got to change their forecast and, and keep in mind, they're answering to shareholders now. So now all of a sudden, I'm a shareholder, and wait a minute, in the first quarter, you said you were going to make this, and now we're in the third quarter, and we're bringing it down to this. So, I mean, they can make the adjustments, but they still are going to be held accountable by their shareholders, but yeah, I can't imagine the millions and millions of dollars they spend on research; I can't imagine," Russo said. [From 14:06 onwards]

Former WWE Superstar is curious about TKO's vision

Speaking about TKO, former WWE Superstar EC3 also had some questions related to the parent company. The former Derrick Bateman wondered if TKO was curious to learn how the pro wrestling business operated or if it would continue to interfere in proceedings.

''TKO is obviously a brilliant, well-run company that's making billions of dollars, so they know things, but do you think they're feeling out how this wrestling's working? Are they going to learn? Are they going to find a balance, or do you think they're just going to continue as is and then rush more creative decisions or rush more, throwing [more] people out there?" EC3 said. [From 12:44 onwards]

While both EC3 and Vince Russo have raised questions about WWE under TKO, the majority of fans seem to be happy with the current version of the Stamford-based company. The promotion, under The Game's creative leadership, staged the most successful WrestleMania ever in Las Vegas last month, and the product seems to be creating buzz among fans every week.

Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video if you use quotes from this article.

​