WWE

Quick Take

WWE's political story is mostly a story about the McMahon family and Donald Trump. While the McMahons ran the company, people who listed WWE as their employer gave almost entirely to Republicans, peaking at about 3.38 million dollars in the 2014 election cycle [5]. Since WWE was folded into TKO Group Holdings in 2023, that giving has fallen to almost nothing. The parent company has also cut its diversity language from its annual reports, and WWE is taking its biggest show, WrestleMania, to Saudi Arabia in 2027 [6][7][8].

From Titan Sports to TKO

WWE began in 1980 as Titan Sports, founded by Vince and Linda McMahon. For two decades it was known as the World Wrestling Federation. In May 2002 it became World Wrestling Entertainment after the World Wildlife Fund won a court case in Britain over the "WWF" initials. Linda McMahon, then chief executive, said the new name put "the emphasis on the 'E' for entertainment" [9].

The family era ended with a merger. On September 12, 2023, the talent and sports company Endeavor combined WWE with the UFC to create TKO Group Holdings, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TKO. Endeavor took 51 percent and former WWE shareholders took 49 percent [10]. In March 2025 the private equity firm Silver Lake bought out the rest of Endeavor, which kept its controlling stake in TKO [11]. TKO's own filings say Silver Lake and its affiliates hold about 61 percent of the company's voting power [12].

TKO's chief executive is Ari Emanuel, and WWE's president is Nick Khan [10]. Emanuel is a longtime Democratic donor. In the 2024 cycle he gave 926,300 dollars, the maximum allowed, to the Harris Victory Fund, which raised money for Kamala Harris's campaign and the Democratic Party [13][4]. Vince McMahon resigned as TKO's executive chairman in January 2024, one day after a former employee, Janel Grant, sued, alleging he forced her into a sexual relationship to get and keep her job. McMahon called the lawsuit "lies" [14]. In July 2026 Grant, McMahon and WWE agreed to move the dispute to private arbitration, which McMahon had sought under a 2022 nondisclosure agreement, and the federal case was dismissed with prejudice [15][16]. By April 2024 McMahon had sold more than 1.3 billion dollars of TKO stock and had filed to sell the rest [17]. The McMahons no longer run the company they built.

The business is large. WWE brought in 1.709 billion dollars in revenue in 2025, part of TKO's total of 4.735 billion dollars [18]. TKO says WWE has more than 700 million fans and about 215 wrestlers under contract, whom it treats as independent contractors rather than employees [7].

A President in the Hall of Fame

Trump's ties to WWE go back to 1988, when his Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City hosted WrestleMania IV, followed by WrestleMania V the next year [1]. The best known moment came at WrestleMania 23 in 2007. In a match billed as the "Battle of the Billionaires," the wrestler Trump backed beat the one McMahon backed, and Trump shaved McMahon's head in front of more than 80,000 fans [1]. WWE inducted Trump into its Hall of Fame in April 2013, and McMahon called him "a global icon" [1].

Money moved alongside the friendship. In 2022, as WWE's board investigated McMahon's conduct, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that 5 million dollars of about 20 million dollars in previously unrecorded expenses were donations McMahon made to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2007 and 2009, the two years Trump appeared on WWE television. For the first appearance, Trump was paid a 1 million dollar fee and the McMahons gave 4 million dollars to his foundation. For the second, Trump was paid 100,000 dollars and the McMahons gave 1 million dollars. A WWE attorney told the Journal the gifts should have been booked as business expenses because they benefited the company [19]. Trump dissolved the foundation in 2018 under an agreement with the New York attorney general's office, which had sued over alleged misuse of its funds [19].

A Wrestling Family in Government

The McMahon family's ties to American politics run deep. Linda McMahon stepped down as WWE's chief executive in September 2009 to run for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut [20]. She lost in 2010 and again in 2012, after spending nearly 100 million dollars of her own money across the two races [21]. In Trump's first term she led the Small Business Administration. She also chaired the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action and the board of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank, and co-chaired Trump's 2024 transition team. In March 2025 the Senate confirmed her as Secretary of Education by a party-line vote of 51 to 45 [2]. Trump has said he wants her to "put herself out of a job" by closing the department [2].

Linda McMahon's government career is her own, but her family's ties have touched the company directly. On April 14, 2020, during the early COVID shutdowns, President Trump named Vince McMahon to a sports advisory group on reopening the economy [22]. That same week, Orange County's mayor said that after conversations with Governor Ron DeSantis's office, WWE had been deemed an essential business, which let it keep taping live shows in Orlando under Florida's stay-at-home order. On the same day as that designation, the America First Action super PAC, then chaired by Linda McMahon, announced 18.5 million dollars in Florida television advertising [23]. DeSantis defended the decision, saying Floridians were "chomping at the bit" for live entertainment [23].

The connection continues under TKO. On July 31, 2025, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE's chief content officer, joined President Trump as Trump signed an executive order bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test. Trump introduced Levesque, a 14-time world champion, as vice chair of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition [3]. On June 14, 2026, TKO staged a UFC card on the White House South Lawn, tied to Trump's birthday and the nation's 250th anniversary. TKO president Mark Shapiro said the event would likely cost more than 60 million dollars and that TKO would lose about 30 million dollars on it, calling it "an investment for the long term" [24][4].

Where the Money Went

WWE has never run a political action committee, or PAC, the kind of fund that pools employee money to give to candidates [5]. The money tied to WWE comes from individuals who listed the company as their employer, as tracked by the nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets from Federal Election Commission records. Those donors gave 92,900 dollars in the 2010 cycle, all of it to Republicans. In 2012 they gave about 390,000 dollars, 99.9 percent to Republicans [5].

The 2014 cycle was the peak. People listing WWE as their employer gave about 3.38 million dollars. Most of it, 2.85 million dollars, is what OpenSecrets classifies as soft money from individuals, and every dollar that went to candidates or parties that cycle went to Republicans. In 2016 the total was about 261,000 dollars, 99 percent to Republicans [5].

Then the money nearly stopped. Giving fell to about 13,000 dollars in 2018, still 93 percent Republican, and to about 10,600 dollars in 2020, when two-thirds went to Democrats. In 2022 the total was 1,970 dollars, 76 percent to Democrats, and OpenSecrets lists no WWE giving for the 2024 cycle [5]. Election cycles are two-year periods, so the "2022" figure covers 2021 and 2022.

Those employer figures capture only part of the family's money. OpenSecrets counted more than 15.1 million dollars in federal political contributions by Vince and Linda McMahon from the 1990 cycle through 2019, of which only 39,100 dollars went to Democrats. In the 2016 cycle Linda McMahon gave 7.2 million dollars to two pro-Trump super PACs, Rebuilding America Now and Future45, and the McMahons ranked 20th among all donors to outside political groups, at more than 10 million dollars. Trump himself gave 5,000 dollars to her 2012 Senate campaign [25]. Her giving continued long after she left WWE. Federal Election Commission records show Linda McMahon gave 20.25 million dollars to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. between November 2023 and September 2024 [26]. This is the McMahons' personal giving, not the company's, and the family no longer runs WWE.

The parent company does run a PAC. TKO Group Holdings PAC is the former UFC political action committee, first registered in 2009 as the Zuffa Political Action Committee and renamed for TKO in the 2024 cycle [27]. In the 2024 cycle it raised 49,500 dollars and gave 7,800 dollars to federal candidates, 55 percent to Democrats and 45 percent to Republicans [28]. Through August 2026 it had raised 56,500 dollars this cycle, giving to Democrats including Senator Jacky Rosen, Representatives Steven Horsford and Dina Titus, and Representative Haley Stevens's Senate campaign, and to Republicans including Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Tim Walberg and Darrell Issa [27].

WWE's own lobbying, meaning payments to influence Congress and federal agencies, was brief. Federal disclosure records show the company hired outside firms from 2008 to 2013. K&L Gates reported work on a "wrestling substance investigation," and APCO Worldwide reported work on literacy and anti-bullying issues. The last WWE registration ended in April 2013 [29].

Lobbying now runs through the parent company. TKO's lobbying filings name "Zuffa and Affiliates" as the client. Zuffa is the company behind the UFC. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the larger of the two firms, describes the client as "organizing and promoting mixed martial arts." The two firms reported about 480,000 dollars in fees for calendar year 2024 and about 680,000 dollars for 2025 [30]. The filings list online piracy of sports broadcasts, ticket transparency legislation, visa issues, and the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, a bill that would change federal rules for professional boxing. None of the issue descriptions names wrestling [30]. The boxing bill touches TKO's own business. TKO owns 40 percent of Zuffa Boxing, a league it runs with Sela, a company representing Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which owns the other 60 percent [31]. The bill would let one company act as a fighter's promoter and also run the rankings and title belts, and a 2025 lobbying report lists a TKO boxing unit, Boxing OpCo, as an affiliated organization [31][30].

Values in the Company's Own Words

TKO's annual reports, known as 10-K filings, show a clear change in how the company talks about diversity. The report filed in February 2024 described "Self-ID campaigns" that let employees identify by race, gender identity and sexual orientation, and training sessions on "promoting and respecting diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace" [6]. The report filed a year later no longer described those programs. It said instead that "inclusion and belonging are intrinsically linked to business success" and that the company wanted a workforce of "qualified individuals of all backgrounds" [32]. The report filed in February 2026 removed that paragraph too, leaving a single goal of developing "high performing and diverse talent" [7]. Because WWE is a TKO subsidiary, these are the parent company's words.

On the consumer side, WWE has worked with the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD since March 2011, when, according to GLAAD, WWE partnered with it "to stand up against bullying and help put an end to homophobia in sports" [33]. In June 2022 WWE sold a rainbow "together" shirt and hat with all proceeds going to GLAAD [34]. The most recent such campaign this review found was in 2022.

WWE has long staged patriotic programming as well. Its annual Tribute to the Troops special began in 2003, and the 21st edition aired on Fox on December 8, 2023 [35]. In 2000, under Linda McMahon, WWE ran Smackdown Your Vote!, a nonpartisan voter registration drive with MTV, Rock the Vote and Project Vote Smart that it said registered more than 135,000 voters between August and November 2000 [36].

The Saudi Partnership

WWE's biggest government relationship is not in Washington. In 2018 WWE signed a 10-year partnership with Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority, which WWE said was "in support of Vision 2030," the kingdom's social and economic reform program [37][8]. Wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer put its value at about 450 million dollars, according to Fortune [38]. In late October 2018, weeks after Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, WWE said it would go ahead with its Crown Jewel event in Riyadh. The company said it would "uphold its contractual obligations to the General Sports Authority and stage the event," like other U.S. companies continuing to operate in the kingdom [38]. Two of WWE's biggest stars, John Cena and Daniel Bryan, reportedly refused to make the trip, and WWE said it would "address each situation accordingly" [39].

The relationship has since grown. TKO describes WWE events "produced through our partnership with the General Entertainment Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" [7]. In January 2025 WWE announced that the 2026 Royal Rumble would be held in Riyadh, its first time outside North America. WWE president Nick Khan said it "only made sense to expand our relationship with the Kingdom" [40]. WWE says the partnership has also produced Crown Jewel, Elimination Chamber, King and Queen of the Ring, Night of Champions, and episodes of Raw and SmackDown [41]. In September 2025 WWE announced that WrestleMania 43 will be held in Riyadh in 2027, the first WrestleMania staged outside North America [8].

Reader Context

Some matters belong in a reader's file as context, not as political signals. In January 2025 the Securities and Exchange Commission said Vince McMahon had kept WWE's board and auditors in the dark about two settlement agreements: a 3 million dollar payment to a former employee in 2019 and a 7.5 million dollar payment to a former contractor in 2022. McMahon agreed to pay a 400,000 dollar penalty and repay about 1.33 million dollars to WWE, without admitting or denying the findings [42]. Separately, in 2021 WWE agreed to pay 39 million dollars to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of misleading investors about problems in its business ties to Saudi Arabia. WWE did not admit fault [43].

Where to Find WWE

Since January 2025, Monday Night Raw has streamed on Netflix under a 10-year deal valued at more than 5 billion dollars [44]. Netflix is also becoming WWE's home outside the United States as rights become available [7]. In the U.S., WWE's premium live events, its big shows such as WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble, stream on ESPN under a five-year deal signed in August 2025 [7]. Tickets, merchandise and schedules are at wwe.com.

Footnotes

[1] Ryan Murphy, WWE.com, "Donald Trump announced for WWE Hall of Fame," February 11, 2013. https://www.wwe.com/classics/wwe-hall-of-fame/donald-trump-announced-for-wwe-hall-of-fame

[2] Shauneen Miranda, States Newsroom (via Missouri Independent), "U.S. Senate confirms former wrestling executive as Trump's secretary of education," March 3, 2025. https://missouriindependent.com/2025/03/03/repub/u-s-senate-confirms-former-wrestling-executive-as-trumps-secretary-of-education/

[3] Compilation of Presidential Documents, "Remarks on Signing an Executive Order on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, and the Reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test and an Exchange With Reporters," July 31, 2025. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500813/html/DCPD-202500813.htm

[4] John S. Nash, Yahoo Sports (Uncrowned), "Inside the UFC-Trump alliance: How Freedom 250 became the ultimate symbol of TKO's growing political power," June 11, 2026. https://sports.yahoo.com/mma/article/inside-the-ufc-trump-alliance-how-freedom-250-became-the-ultimate-symbol-of-tkos-growing-political-power-143000939.html

[5] OpenSecrets, "World Wrestling Entertainment Profile: Totals," contributions by party of recipient and source of funds, 1990 to 2024 cycles, accessed October 3, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/world-wrestling-entertainment/totals?id=D000058725

[6] TKO Group Holdings, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023, Human Capital Resources, filed February 27, 2024. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973266/000156276224000038/tko-20231231x10k.htm

[7] TKO Group Holdings, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed February 25, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973266/000119312526071651/tko-20251231.htm

[8] Tyler Lauletta, Sports Illustrated, "WWE Announces Saudi Arabia Will Host WrestleMania 43 in 2027," September 12, 2025. https://www.si.com/wrestling/wwe-announces-saudi-arabia-will-host-wrestlemania-43-in-2027

[9] WWE Corporate, "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment drops the 'F'!," May 6, 2002. https://corporate.wwe.com/about/news/2002/05-06-2002

[10] Andrew Thompson, POST Wrestling, "Endeavor announces close of UFC-WWE transaction to create TKO Group Holdings," September 12, 2023. https://www.postwrestling.com/?p=81586

[11] Silver Lake, "Endeavor Announces Completion of Acquisition by Silver Lake," March 24, 2025. https://www.silverlake.com/endeavor-announces-completion-of-acquisition-by-silver-lake/

[12] TKO Group Holdings, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, filed with the SEC, accessed October 3, 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001973266/000119312526208992/tko-20260331.htm

[13] Matthew Frank, The Ankler, "Kamala Harris' 62 Biggest Hollywood Donors," October 23, 2024, compiled from Harris Victory Fund filings with the FEC. https://theankler.com/kamala-harris-62-biggest-hollywood-donors/

[14] The Associated Press, via NPR, "Wrestling icon Vince McMahon resigns from WWE parent company after sex abuse suit," January 26, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227349781/wrestling-icon-vince-mcmahon-resigns-from-wwe-parent-company

[15] Shounak Chakrabarti, ClutchPoints via Yahoo Sports, "Former WWE chairman Vince McMahon-Janel Grant lawsuit heading to private arbitration in latest update," July 21, 2026. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/former-wwe-chairman-vince-mcmahon-103837441.html

[16] John Pollock, POST Wrestling, "Voluntary dismissal of sex trafficking lawsuit filed by Janel Grant, Vince McMahon & WWE," July 24, 2026. https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/07/24/voluntary-dismissal-of-sex-trafficking-lawsuit-filed-by-janel-grant-vince-mcmahon-wwe/

[17] Brendan Coffey, Sportico, "Vince McMahon Lists Final TKO Shares for Sale," April 26, 2024. https://www.sportico.com/personalities/executives/2024/vince-mcmahon-selling-last-tko-shares-1234777031/

[18] TKO Group Holdings, "TKO Group Holdings Reports 2025 Financial Results," Business Wire, February 25, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260225866580/en/

[19] Sarah Whitten, CNBC, "WWE discovered Vince McMahon paid $5 million to Donald Trump's foundation, report says," August 17, 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/17/vince-mcmahon-paid-5-million-to-donald-trumps-foundation-wwe-finds.html

[20] WWE Corporate, "WWE's Linda McMahon Resigns to Run for U.S. Senate," September 16, 2009. https://corporate.wwe.com/about/news/2009/09-16-2009

[21] Nick Baumann, Mother Jones, "Linda McMahon Spent $100 Million to Lose Twice," November 7, 2012. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/linda-mcmahon-spent-100-million-lose-twice/

[22] Fox News, "Trump says these people will help advise him on reopening economy after coronavirus outbreak," April 14, 2020. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-reopen-economy-people-companies-groups

[23] Colin Wolf, Orlando Weekly, "Pro-Trump PAC run by McMahon pledged $18.5 million the same day DeSantis deemed WWE an 'essential business' in Orlando," April 15, 2020. https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/pro-trump-pac-run-by-mcmahon-pledged-185-million-the-same-day-desantis-deemed-wwe-an-essential-business-in-orlando-27162351/

[24] Luisa Beltran, Sportico, "TKO Expects $60M Bill, No Profit From UFC Event at White House," February 25, 2026. https://www.sportico.com/business/sports/2026/ufc-white-house-cost-revenue-tko-trump-1234885680/

[25] Raymond Arke, OpenSecrets, "Linda McMahon," Revolving Door profile, updated June 18, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/linda-mcmahon/summary?id=81848

[26] Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts for Make America Great Again Inc. (committee C00825851) from contributor Linda E. McMahon, 2024 cycle, five contributions dated November 2, 2023 to September 5, 2024, accessed October 3, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00825851&contributor_name=McMahon%2C+Linda&two_year_transaction_period=2024

[27] Federal Election Commission, committee C00459693, "TKO Group Holdings, Inc. PAC (TKO PAC)," registration history (formerly Zuffa Political Action Committee, first filed March 6, 2009), 2026 cycle totals through August 31, 2026, and itemized disbursements, accessed October 3, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00459693/

[28] OpenSecrets, "PAC Profile: TKO Group Holdings," 2023-2024 cycle, accessed October 3, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/sage-pac/C00459693/summary/2024

[29] U.S. Senate Office of Public Records, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for client World Wrestling Entertainment (registrants K&L Gates and APCO Worldwide, 2008 to 2013), accessed October 3, 2026. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=World+Wrestling

[30] U.S. Senate Office of Public Records, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings for client "Zuffa and Affiliates" (registrants Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and ACG Advocacy), 2024 and 2025, including the fourth-quarter 2025 Brownstein report naming H.R. 4624 and the second-quarter 2025 report listing Boxing OpCo, LLC as an affiliated organization, accessed October 3, 2026. https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/a49bd439-7c36-4ab7-a0cd-9d94349ea1be/print/ and https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/3bae6139-f637-4664-951f-192e3078f37a/print/

[31] Neal Flanagan, POST Wrestling, "Zuffa Boxing contracts and lobbying efforts detailed in Guardian article," January 28, 2026, summarizing Thomas Hauser's January 28, 2026 report in The Guardian. https://www.postwrestling.com/2026/01/28/zuffa-boxing-contracts-and-lobbying-efforts-detailed-in-guardian-article/

[32] TKO Group Holdings, Form 10-K for fiscal year 2024, Human Capital Resources, filed February 26, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973266/000095017025027778/tko-20241231.htm

[33] GLAAD, "Images of Equality: GLAAD Annual Performance Report 2011-2012," 2012, page 3. https://media.glaad.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/25203525/performancereport2012-666.pdf

[34] Skylar Russell, Fightful, "WWE Releases New Pride Merchandise To Celebrate Pride Month, 100% Of Proceeds To Go To GLAAD," June 1, 2022. https://www.fightful.com/?p=103218

[35] WWE.com, "WWE Tribute to the Troops set for Friday, December 8 on FOX," November 13, 2023. https://wwe.com/article/tribute-to-the-troops-december-8-fox-providence-rhode-island

[36] WWE Corporate, "WWE Superstars Encourage Voters to Head to the Polls to Smackdown! Their Votes," November 3, 2000. https://corporate.wwe.com/about/news/2000/11-03-2000

[37] WWE Corporate, "Saudi Arabia to host the Greatest Royal Rumble," March 5, 2018. https://corporate.wwe.com/about/news/2018/03-05-2018a

[38] Chris Morris, Fortune, "WWE Confirms Saudi Arabia Pay-Per-View Will Continue as Scheduled," October 25, 2018. https://fortune.com/2018/10/25/wwe-crown-jewel-confirmed-saudi-arabia

[39] Phillip Martinez, Newsweek, "WWE Crown Jewel: John Cena and Daniel Bryan Reportedly Out of Saudi Arabia Show," October 26, 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/wwe-crown-jewel-john-cena-daniel-bryan-1190231

[40] WWE.com, "Saudi Arabia to host Royal Rumble in 2026," January 6, 2025. https://www.wwe.com/article/saudi-arabia-to-host-royal-rumble-in-2026

[41] WWE Corporate, "Riyadh Season to make history by hosting WrestleMania 43 in 2027," September 12, 2025. https://corporate.wwe.com/about/news/2025/09-12-2025

[42] U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2025-1, January 10, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-1

[43] Jennifer Bennett, Bloomberg Law, "WWE, Investors Win Final Court Approval for $39 Million Deal," July 2, 2021. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/wwe-investors-win-final-court-approval-for-39-million-deal

[44] Sara Fischer, Axios, "Netflix strikes $5B livestreaming deal with WWE," January 23, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/23/netflix-wwe-livestream-deal