Ari Emanuel, in memoir, recounts Vince McMahon’s July 2022 resignation call and later TKO exit

TKO CEO Ari Emanuel says in his memoir Roll the Calls that he was at Wimbledon in July 2022 when The Wall Street Journal published allegations about Vince McMahon, and that McMahon phoned to deny the claims while telling Emanuel he planned to step down; Emanuel links those events to the scandals that preceded WWE’s sale and McMahon’s eventual departure from TKO Group in 2024.

Emanuel recounts the moment with a direct quote: "I was at Wimbledon when The Wall Street Journal dropped its first bombshell report: Vince making secret payouts to several women to settle harassment suits," and wrote that McMahon assured him the charges were false while saying his daughter would take over; McMahon retired in July 2022, Stephanie McMahon assumed control, and then McMahon returned to the company in early 2023.

Emanuel described McMahon’s return as a "mess" and said he and Mark Shapiro began pitching a sale that would combine WWE with UFC; the proposal presented to McMahon included the possibility he remain as "chairman emeritus" and emphasized applying UFC’s business knowledge to WWE to "save the company," which Emanuel characterised as "teetering." Endeavor and WWE later reached an agreement that brought both promotions under TKO Group Holdings in mid-2023.

Emanuel wrote that McMahon was experiencing health problems and "seems not to fully understand," and he called the subsequent revelations in January 2024 — when former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit accusing McMahon of sexual assault and trafficking among other allegations — "orders of magnitude more troubling." The source states McMahon has denied Grant’s allegations.

According to Emanuel, Shapiro insisted McMahon had to be removed entirely with "no emeritus position" and "no involvement in the company whatsoever," and Emanuel said he was uncomfortable delivering the message himself, telling Shapiro, "Tell him, Mark." Shapiro then told McMahon they had "crossed several red lines" and were in "new territory," to which McMahon replied, "Okay. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. Today." McMahon resigned as TKO Executive Chairman shortly after Grant filed her lawsuit.

Emanuel also recorded that the company hoped its new structure would "thrill Wall Street," but he added that "the stock price doesn't budge."

In July 2026, Grant, McMahon, and WWE filed a joint stipulation of dismissal agreeing to move the ongoing dispute out of federal court and into confidential, private arbitration, which is the next procedural step disclosed in the source.