Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Reaction To WWE/Endeavor Deal Revealed

WWE

Stone Cold Steve Austin has opened up about his reaction to the news that Vince McMahon had done a deal with Endeavor for WWE.

On April 3, Endeavor announced that they had reached an agreement to merge WWE and UFC into one sports and entertainment company.

As recently reported, the merged entity would be called “TKO Group Holdings” with Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel serving as CEO of TKO Group and Vince McMahon serving as Executive Chairman of the new company.

It’s worth mentioning, although the deal is commonly referred to as the ‘WWE sale’, it technically wasn’t a sale and there was no actual cash exchange.

WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin has spoken about his reaction to the sale on SI Media, saying:

“I wasn’t shocked at all. It’s been in the grapevine and it happened and it kind of made sense. UFC did it, so why not WWE?

“Triple H went out there and cut that promo, saying that they’re not going anywhere, meaning the people that are running WWE.

“I think it needs to come from a wrestling-minded, family-type thing or those key players. That’s a tricky business.

“Not everybody with a television background walks into the pro wrestling industry or the sports entertainment industry, whatever they want to call it, and can produce great results, so you keep the people running it because they know their fan base probably as good as anyone or better than anybody.

“I remember when Vince took the company public years ago. I asked him, I said, ‘Vince, why do you want to do this?’ He said, ‘Steve, to legitimize the business.'”

It was previously revealed that Vince McMahon’s role as WWE Executive Chairman was built into the revised offer from Endeavor to WWE during negotiations.

WWE’s next major show is this Saturday’s Night of Champions taking place in Saudi Arabia.

The card for WWE Night of Champions 2023 on Saturday, May 27 is as follows:

World Heavyweight Championship – Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins vs. AJ Styles

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship – Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) vs. Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa

Raw Women’s Championship – Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka

SmackDown Women’s Championship – Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Natalya

Intercontinental Championship – Gunther (c) vs. Mustafa Ali

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus

Transcript from wrestlingnews.co.

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• endeavor
• Steve Austin
• Vince McMahon
• wwe

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