TKO’s Mark Shapiro Sounds off on Current Criticism of WWE Product and WrestleMania 42 Attendance Decline

The Chief Operating Officer of TKO has taken up the criticism directed at the current state of WWE and the WrestleMania attendance decline.

TKO’s Mark Shapiro Sounds off on Current Criticism of WWE Product and WrestleMania 42 Attendance Decline

Mark Shapiro has addressed the criticisms around WWE [via- SBJ]

TKO reported its Q1 earnings this past Wednesday, in which the company COO Mark Shapiro addressed criticisms regarding the current WWE product in addition to WrestleMania 42’s attendance being down year-over-year. For the latter, Shapiro said that TKO isn’t concerned about ticket performance by adding that it was unrealistic to expect an uptick in attendance for the repeat business in Vegas.

Shapiro then cited the financial success of the show as it recorded one of the highest gates in WWE history. The business magnate doubled down on the decision to run the same venue for this year’s WrestleMania by saying it “easily outperformed anywhere else we could have staged it.”

For the record, this year’s WrestleMania witnessed a near 15% average decline in attendance figures as compared to its 2025 edition. It’s also widely reported how the TKO brass passed down an edict to WWE creative for interjecting Pat McAfee into the Cody Rhodes/Randy Orton feud in a push to jolt ticket sales for Mania.

However, it instantly backfired as the core wrestling audience vehemently pushed back on the idea, claiming McAfee’s addition to the story sabotaged the gravity of what many considered a dream feud. During the aforementioned financial earnings call, Mark Shapiro sounded off on TKO investors seeking an answer on the state of WWE creative and its pertinent criticism.

As it relates to the creative, there will always be periodic fan dissatisfaction around creative execution, commercial load, and celebrity usage. We listen to all the feedback. We do not turn a deaf ear, but these are not new criticisms

Mark Shapiro via TKO’s Q1 earnings call

The firm’s Chief Operating Officer said there would always be periodic creative dissatisfaction and a resistance to celebrity usage. Shapiro revealed TKO is being receptive to all the feedback, to which they don’t turn a deaf ear, but said those criticisms aren’t new. He later raised the outcry of WWE getting over-commercialized with advertising sponsors coming up on virtually everything on television.

Shapiro regurgitated about TKO’s open stance on fan criticism and keeping it on top priority. But he also broached the challenges of balancing the fan experience with sports business. The WWE fanbase firmly believes that the wrestling juggernaut is dying a slow death under the TKO’s leadership. They think that it is getting creatively soulless and non-affordable due to astronomical ticket pricing.

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TKO asked WWE to release a certain amount of wrestlers for a couple of reasons

WWE axed over 20 wrestlers in late April in its latest mass release drive post-WrestleMania. Many prominent names like the entire Wyatt Sicks faction, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, the Motor City Machine Guns, and Kairi Sane were let go, among several others. It was previously reported that Triple H and Nick Khan were the key decision-makers in conjunction with the WWE talent relations department.

WWE releases
WWE released over 20 stars recently [via- ITR Wrestling]

It’s now been revealed by Dave Meltzer that TKO asked WWE to cut a certain number of talent owing to SmackDown reverting back to a 2-hour format by the end of May. The veteran journalist noted that TKO reportedly wanted to get rid of those wrestlers that the WWE creative wasn’t planning on using to make room for NXT call-ups on the main roster.

Moreover, as noted above, SmackDown will have its third hour dropped by May-end. It would mean less airtime for incorporating everyone into weekly WWE programming on the blue brand. So that’s why the SmackDown roster experienced several of its stars getting fired in the latest wave of WWE releases.

In addition to it, TKO is now asking multiple WWE Superstars to get their deals restructured, which is a euphemism for accepting pay cuts. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day were reportedly asked to undergo the same, but they didn’t like the counteroffer and decided to part ways with WWE.

Fightful reported in its aftermath that the wrestlers are expected to negotiate differently with WWE moving forward. It’s due to the obvious trepidation of long-term contracts in jeopardy of not being honored for their entire duration under TKO’s latest initiative to maximize revenue for its investors.

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