More WWE Cuts Expected

WWE’s cost-cutting isn’t over yet.

In September WWE let go more than 100 office employees following the merger with UFC, and the cuts didn’t stop there. A week later, the company released a number of wrestlers across both the main roster and NXT, with the likes of Dolph Ziggler and Mustafa Ali being let go.

The company also secured a new deal for SmackDown to leave Fox in 2024, and the contract is said to be worth around $1.4 billion. It was reported that this led to frustration within WWE, with the monster new TV deal announced on the same day that talent cuts were made.

The TKO Group — the parent company of WWE and UFC — has now confirmed on its latest investors call that the cuts will continue. Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that the cuts will come from eliminating jobs that overlap between the two companies.

“The company noted that there will be a great decrease in expenses in eliminating jobs in IT, marketing, finance, human resources and legal when it comes to overlapping personnel in UFC and WWE who can do those jobs for both companies. They expect to save $50 million to $100 million, and the figure was said to be expected to be the high end of this range, with 75 percent of the savings being on the books for 2024.”

Vince McMahon Preparing To Sell WWE-TKO Stock Worth $700 Million

On November 9th, it was announced that Vince McMahon was selling 8.4 million TKO shares. These shares have a total value of around $700 million. This represents around 30% of his 28 million shares in the company.

McMahon needs to hold a total of seven million shares to remain as Executive Chairman.