TKO President says WWE needs to move past Vince McMahon-created PLEs

The vast majority of WWE PLEs have been named and created by the former CEO.

In a recent interview on The Main Event with Andrew Marchard, TKO president and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mark Shapiro has revealed that a conscious decision has been made to move away from PLEs created by former CEO and co-founder Vince McMahon.

McMahon resigned as WWE CEO and chairman in June 2022, following claims of hush-money agreements over affairs with former WWE employee Janel Grant.

He later returned to the promotion in early 2023 to facilitate the sale of the company and later resigned from his position at TKO Group in January 2024 following allegations of trafficking and assault.

2025 saw the promotion introduce two new PLEs

Most of the current Premium Live Events were originally conceived and named during McMahon’s tenure. In 2025, the lineup included long-standing marquee events such as the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, Night of Champions, Evolution, SummerSlam, and Crown Jewel, among others, all of which originated under McMahon’s leadership.

However, in 2025, the promotion also introduced two fresh additions to the schedule: Clash in Paris and Wrestlepalooza, which ushered in the ESPN era for WWE PLEs, both of which were created after McMahon’s exit.

This is not a random decision but rather a conscious effort, per Shapiro, to take the torch and move away from the PLEs created by McMahon.

During the recent interview, Shapiro commented on the work ethic of WWE President Nick Khan and creative head Paul “Triple H” Levesque, highlighting their openness to new ideas and willingness to “embrace a new challenge, take a risk, or seize a new opportunity,” including the launch of events like the aforementioned Wrestlepalooza.

“And yet, they’re open to new ideas. They never seem exhausted. They’re ready to take on a new shot, a new risk, a new opportunity. ‘Hey, Nick, let’s talk about launching a new event.’ 

Right now, a lot of our PLEs were really created by Vince McMahon. We need to get in the business of taking that torch and moving past that. Nick (Khan) and Triple H created Wrestlepalooza, which is the launch event for our new ESPN deal which did incredibly well and may turn into a super franchise.

Not to mention from a merch standpoint, I don’t need to tell you, securing the IP rights and then selling merch out at Wrestlepalooza. Let’s just say it was a real winner,” 

Shapiro didn’t explain the reasoning behind his view or whether it reflects a corporate directive for Khan. He also didn’t clarify whether WWE plans to create entirely new events, phase out long-standing shows like WrestleMania and SummerSlam, or simply add new PLEs to maximize profits.

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