Backstage News On Rumors Of WWE Leadership Changes

A recent JP Morgan report raising concerns about WWE’s business performance is not expected to result in any immediate changes to the company’s leadership.

The investment firm recently lowered its price target for TKO from $225 to $222, citing weaker fan sentiment, declining year-over-year Raw viewership on Netflix, and softer SummerSlam ticket demand. The report noted that while WWE’s premium live event audience continues to grow, “WWE fan dissatisfaction is worth watching but is not yet a structural problem.”

According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE officials are not expecting the report to trigger any near-term shakeups. Instead, the company’s next major evaluation period is expected to come closer to the expiration of its media rights deals with Netflix and USA Network, both of which run through the end of 2029.

“Regarding this, from inside WWE, while obviously once this has gotten to JP Morgan which affects stock price it is a story,” Meltzer wrote. “I was told even so, right now nothing is expected to happen until around 2028 at which point the Netflix deal and USA deals will be in play, with both ending at the end of 2029.”

Meltzer added that if WWE’s business metrics are not where the company wants them to be by then, TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro and other executives could begin applying pressure to WWE President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

“If numbers aren’t strong, we’re told that’s when Mark Shapiro and company will really start pressuring Nick Khan and Levesque,” Meltzer continued. “And if numbers are strong, things will stay the way they are, which would include some reactions to outside things like this and numbers.”

(H/T: F4WOnline.com)