Vince McMahon, Ari Emanuel Exposed In Voicemails From WWE/UFC Merger Lawsuit (WWE News)
3 voicemails released amidst shareholder lawsuit involving WWE, TKO, UFC, Vince McMahon etc.
POST Wrestling/Wrestlenomics Brandon Thurston has obtained and released 3 voicemails exchanged between Ari Emanuel, Vince McMahon and Jeff Sine (a banker and advisor to McMahon from The Raine Group) from September and December 2022.
Previously, transcripts of what was said had been available, but this is the first time actual audio has been released publicly. They make for very interesting listening.
Firstly, Emanuel was keen to assure Vince that he'd be able to help with legal issues stemming from investigations into McMahon's conduct by the United States Department Of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission. Emanuel said that he could help "indemnify" the former WWE boss, which basically means compensate him for costs tied to litigation.
A shareholder case brought on by talks to merge WWE with UFC under what'd become the TKO banner was the crux of this - those shareholders took their argument to court by alleging that McMahon planned to conspire a merger so he could remain in power despite publicly resigning from the company.
For the record, the latest update on this lawsuit is that it's expected to result in a settlement between both parties.
Following up on his original voicemail a few days later, Ari told Vince that "there’s ways around this to figure this out", but said he wanted to meet with McMahon and talk things over. Of course, this all came in the midst of sexual assault charges levied against McMahon by ex-WWE employee Janel Grant.
Vince then sent Sine his own voicemail after a meeting with Emanuel, Linda McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque and Mark Shapiro. In that, McMahon said he'd pretty much made his mind up to cut the deal with Ari, because "it’s easier, faster and all that kind of stuff".
Thurston confirmed via his write-up on POST Wrestling that he's reached out to McMahon's sources. However, they haven't confirmed whether or not he was indemnified by Emanuel, nor did they want to comment generally.