{"id":214583,"date":"2026-04-08T12:12:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=214583"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:12:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:12:39","slug":"text-messages-reveal-paul-triple-h-levesques-concern-about-mcmahons-return-involvement-in-wwe-mindset-during-tko-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/04\/08\/text-messages-reveal-paul-triple-h-levesques-concern-about-mcmahons-return-involvement-in-wwe-mindset-during-tko-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"Text messages reveal Paul &#8220;Triple H&#8221; Levesque&#8217;s concern about McMahon&#8217;s return involvement in WWE, mindset during TKO merger"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2469930080\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Paul Levesque expressed concerned about Vince McMahon returning to WWE in 2023, as revealed in recently obtained text exchanges between Levesque and Nick Khan, two top WWE\/TKO executives.<\/p>\n<p>The text messages were disclosed last week as exhibits that are part of an ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuit that questions the process by which Endeavor eventually acquired WWE. The texts reveal concerns that Levesque had about his role in the company around the time when Vince McMahon made his return to WWE in 2023. The text messages were first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postwrestling.com\/2026\/04\/07\/paul-levesque-nick-khan-texts-show-friction-between-vince-mcmahon-and-levesque-over-wwe-creative-in-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brandon Thurston of Post Wrestling.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The first message, from Sept. 11, 2023, the day before the merger of UFC and WWE into TKO became official, show that Levesque saw Khan as a friend and ally. \u201cHow\u2019s it going so far? Man, I\u2019m wound tight today\u2026. DDay tomorrow, expecting the worst,\u201d wrote Levesque.<\/p>\n<p>Khan replied twice to Levesque&#8217;s message, but deleted his replies. Khan said in legal filings he does not remember what he said in the messages. Later on during the same day, Levesque messaged Khan that McMahon wanted to meet about talent releases that coincided with corporate releases.<\/p>\n<p>Levesque texted Khan again two hours later asking him if he spoke to AE, which is assumed to be Ari Emanuel. \u201cWhile I\u2019m SURE you like to be done with this shit for today &#8230; Please let me know if you speak to AE,\u201d wrote Levesque.<\/p>\n<p>Khan replied three hours later saying that he would. Levesque asked Khan if he was okay to which Khan replied, \u201cYes sir! How you?\u201d Levesque wrote back to Khan, admitting that he was anxious for the next day and the future.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;Worse or Better&#8221; with Stephanie Chase and Josh White, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/worse-or-better-debut-episode-chase-white-discuss-prestige-of-wrestlemania-main-events-today-compared-to-10-20-30-years-ago--71143026\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Worse or Better (Debut Episode) - Chase &amp; White discuss prestige of WrestleMania main events today compared to 10, 20, 30 years ago\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=71143026&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The text messages between Khan and Triple H pick back up on the day that the merger of UFC and WWE as TKO was made official. They congratulated each other on the merger and Levesque sent another text mentioning that Vince McMahon wanted to set up a meeting. \u201cMorning! VKM looking to set an in-person meeting for today at 4 p.m. with you, Bruce, and Ed regarding Talent Policies,\u201d wrote Levesque. Khan&#8217;s reply to Levesque was deleted, apparently by Khan.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1203301668\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The text messages pick back up on Dec. 9, 2023 with Levesque texting Khan about McMahon coming to Raw in Cleveland. \u201cWas just told by security that VKM is coming to Cleveland TV Monday,&#8221; Levesque wrote. &#8220;What\u2019s that about ??????\u201d Khan\u2019s replies to Levesque are deleted, but Levesque sent a message asking Khan if McMahon has come to meet him in NYC. Khan\u2019s replies to that message are deleted as well.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Levesque sent a message to Khan about Vince McMahon, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel, and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro. \u201cThe more I think about it, the more I\u2019m kinda disappointed in that Ari convo\u2026\u2026 Seems like we are in the same place &#8230; I\u2019m gonna tell him to &#8216;stay out of it or else.&#8217; That\u2019s way different than I\u2019m telling him he\u2019s done \u2026.. it\u2019s over,\u201d wrote Levesque.<\/p>\n<p>The texts suggest that Levesque thought Emanual was going to make sure that McMahon was no longer going to be involved in creative, but that had not occurred yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKicking the can down the road, what do u think about me hitting Shapiro to get his take and let him push or better direct to Ari?\u201d Between you and I, It feels like they are both backtracking on the &#8216;he\u2019s out&#8217; narrative. It\u2019s back to the &#8216;Well, if he wants to go to the show now and then&#8217; and &#8216;if he gives notes and wants to have a 30min meeting now and then, ok.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>McMahon resigned as Executive Chairman of the Board for TKO in January 2024 after a lawsuit was filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant accusing McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (4\/6) - WWE Raw w\/Keller &amp; Maitland\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vgm9VfYPKWM?start=86&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1832522845\"><div id=\"pwtor-1571744637\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Paul Levesque expressed concerned about Vince McMahon returning to WWE in 2023, as revealed in recently obtained text exchanges between Levesque and Nick Khan, two top WWE\/TKO executives. The text messages were disclosed last week <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/04\/08\/text-messages-reveal-paul-triple-h-levesques-concern-about-mcmahons-return-involvement-in-wwe-mindset-during-tko-merger\/\" title=\"Text messages reveal Paul &#8220;Triple H&#8221; Levesque&#8217;s concern about McMahon&#8217;s return involvement in WWE, mindset during TKO merger\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":186259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-10-at-1.46.53\u202fPM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214583"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214586,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214583\/revisions\/214586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}