Backstage Update on TKO Executives Having WWE Creative Control

How much say does TKO have over WWE creative? Apparently, as much as they want.

Triple H | WWE

TKO President and COO Mark Shaprio turned some heads earlier this week when claimed that the company had “complete control” over WWE's creative direction.

Shapiro made those comments while speaking to a class at the University of Alabama, the audio of which soon made its way online. They came on the heels of the controversy surrounding the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 42, where ESPN host Pat McAfee was shoehorned into the rivalry between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer looked into the claims and found that at the end of the day, TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro do have the final say over any creative decisions made by Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque and his team.

TKO has final say over WWE creative, but...

Pat McAfee | WWE

"They almost never use it," Meltzer said in his report. "It was said that in this situation, they used it at the most inopportune time. There was a ton of chaos regarding those on the wrestling side who didn’t want the McAfee and Jelly Roll involvement in a world title match they had been slowly building for months and how the celebrities took the focus away.”

The decision to bring McAfee in so close to WrestleMania was said to have been made by TKO higher ups to promote synergy with ESPN and to help give a boost to ticket sales.

During his latest newsletter, Meltzer said that one source claimed to him that they saw the conflict between TKO and WWE coming a full year in advance.

“There was a lot of internal jockeying going on and that it was encouraged by Ari Emanuel and Shapiro," Meltzer said. “It was noted to us that everyone acknowledges that at the end of the day, [TKO has] complete control, but they rarely use it and the complaint this year was that when they use it, it’s at the worst time.”

Both Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll were reportedly supposed to stick around through next month's Backlash Premium Live Event in Tampa, Florida.

The belief is that McAfee would have teamed up with Randy Orton to take on Jelly Roll and Cody Rhodes, but Meltzer reported earlier this week that McAfee pulled himself from the program due to the overwhelming fan backlash.

The alliance between Orton and McAfee didn't even survive WrestleMania weekend. The Viper delivered an RKO out of nowhere to Pat toward the end of Saturday night's main event, which gave Rhodes the window he needed to hit a Cross Rhodes and retain the title.

Per the stipulation of the match, McAfee had to remove himself from WWE programming following Orton's loss and never return.