Note on Who From TKO Can Interfere With WWE’s Creative Plans

As previously reported, it’s been said in the past that WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings, LLC (TKO) has full creative control over WWE “if they want to” exercise it, while WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque oversees the week-to-week creative scene. In the latest Fightful Select Answers Q&A, Sean Ross Sapp answered a fan question asking who specifically from TKO can interfere with WWE’s creative.

Per Sapp, only the top executives of TKO, specifically President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mark Shapiro and CEO Ari Emanuel, have the power and authority to exercise creative control in WWE. Sapp added they are the only ones who can do it based on what he’s heard. Readers might also recall that while speaking to a class at the University of Alabama, Shapiro said that TKO has full control over WWE creative.

Sapp previously reported in an earlier Fightful Select Q&A that if anything “comes out of left field” for WWE creatively, it’s the result of TKO’s directives. The instance of Pat McAfee being revealed as Randy Orton’s mystery caller and his involvement with the Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton feud at WrestleMania 42 were largely credited to Ari Emanuel’s influence.

McAfee later reportedly opted out of continuing the angle due to the vehement online fan backlash and criticism of the storyline.