WWE is a global wrestling company, but Vince McMahon considers WWE a sports entertainment company. UFC is a Mix Martial Arts company that is globally recognized as an entertainment event. WWE was originally formed as Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), then later World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), then later, World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1980, Titan Sports, Inc. was formed, while Vince and Linda McMahon filed trademarks for “WWF.” Vince McMahon purchased CWC from his father in 1982. Since then, WWF has been on a boom. In 1999, Vince renamed Titan Sports, Inc. into what is known as World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. while maintaining the “WWF” trademark. In 2002, WWF was renamed in both corporation recognition and branding following a lawsuit over the “WWF” mark. World Wildlife Fund is a swiss company with international reach, so the U.K. courts favored World Wildlife Fund over World Wrestling Federation, and Vince McMahon abandoned the WWF initialization, branding (including logo), and company name. Today, World Wrestling Federation is known as World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE for short. So, WWE has been around for some time.
UFC on the other hand, has a short corporate history: Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was founded in 1993. Zuffa is the parent company of UFC, and it means “fight” in italian. Zuffa, LLC. was sold and merged into Endeavor after a series of acquisitions that would compliment what is known as UFC. Endeavor bought Zuffa and merged the Zuffa company into Endeavor on April 29, 2021. At the same time, Endeavor listed themselves on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). So, that brings the story to now: On April 3, 2023 – WWE was sold and merged into Endeavor. It’s not going to be renamed. (Unless the company decides to do so.) However, the company plans to register it’s publicly traded stock as “TKO.”
Source: WWE and Endeavor (parent company of UFC)
Under the new Endeavor company, Endeavor holds 51 percent of the cap table, WWE holds 49 percent of the cap table. But hold on, let’s talk about the pre-cursor to this, because it’s important: Vince McMahon was ousted out of WWE internally; Vince McMahon voluntarily stepped down from his Chairman position and C.E.O. position – and Vince McMahon took a severance package with him. Vince McMahon was subject of a sexual assault allegation(s) dating back to …2005, and 2018 respectively. (Basically Cancel Culture.) Publicly, on July 22, 2022 – Vince McMahon retired from WWE. Stephanie McMahon was named a interim Chairman of WWE, and co-C.E.O. Nick Khan is also the co-C.E.O. Stephanie McMahon stepped down shortly thereafter. Triple H replaced Vince McMahon as head of Creative. So, now: Vince McMahon is now the executive chairman of Endeavor (“TKO”), Ariel Emanuel is the C.E.O. of Endeavor. Mark Shapiro, who will be President and Chief Operating Officer of both Endeavor and the new company. Dana White will continue in his role as President of UFC and Nick Khan will serve as President of WWE. The Board of Directors will consist of 11 members who will be appointed at a later date, six of whom will be appointed by Endeavor and five of whom by WWE.
Then, on April 3, 2023 – Triple H took the stage on Monday Night Raw to say “We ain’t going nowhere!” to assure the WWE Universe, and WWE investors that WWE as a brand isn’t going anywhere. Hell, shortly before the merge, WWE unveiled and coined a new slogan for WWE: “Then, Now, Forever. Together.”
On the same week, during their April 7, 2023 – Triple H announced the return of their WWE Draft, which moves superstars into WWE’s 3-tent brand system: NXT, Raw, and Smackdown. NXT is a developmental brand, so they will be called up into either Raw or Smackdown, if Paul Levesque has anything to say about it since he’s the head of creative in WWE…
A new WWE Draft is usually meant to change up their current working “scripts.” These scripts are sometimes split, and that’s what the draft usually changes. All current storylines are pending, and will be finished off in a few weeks, as per Triple H’s announcement…
WWE airs on Monday and Fridays as Monday Night Raw, and Smackdown respectively. WWE’s developmental brand, NXT airs on Tuesday. WWE hosts live events at the scheduled dates, they do Pay Per Views every month. UFC is more of a per-marketed syndicated Pay Per View at the sole discretion of UFC. WWE is more of a sports entertainment company, while UFC is a hardcore Mix Martial Arts (MMA) company.
