WWE: AJ Lee on Fan Reactions To Her WWE Return, TKO Announces Plans to Buy Back $1 Billion in TKO Stock, Duke Hudson on WWE’s Talent Recruitment Policies

AJ Lee Comments on Fan Reactions To Her WWE Return

As noted before, AJ Lee made her surprise return to WWE earlier this month for the first time in ten years.

In response to a fan on Twitter who posted a video compilation of all the fans streamer reactions to her surprise return to WWE, Lee thanked them all and stated that they “all made her year.”

you all made my year https://t.co/Z4M8ejYlyk

— AJ Mendez (@TheAJMendez) September 15, 2025

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TKO Announces Plans to Buy Back $1 Billion in TKO Stock

TKO Group announced earlier today that they are currently planning to repurchase around $1 billion in company shares.

It was announced that under the deal, TKO will be paying $800 million to Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and expects to receive an initial delivery of 3,161,430 shares of Class A common stock. It was also announced that this transaction is scheduled to be completed in December of 2025.

It was also announced that they intend to fund this repurchase with a $1 billion first lien term loan.

Official press release:

TKO Announces $1 Billion in Share Repurchases

Including $800 Million Accelerated Share Repurchase, Up to $174 Million 10b5-1 Trading Plan, and a $26 Million Privately Negotiated Transaction

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) (“TKO” or the “Company”), a premium sports and entertainment company, today announced that it has entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement (the “ASR Agreement”) to repurchase $800 million of its outstanding Class A common stock.

The Company also announced that it has entered into a 10b5-1 trading plan for the repurchase of up to $174 million of its outstanding Class A common stock (the “10b5-1 Plan”). In addition, on September 5, 2025, the Company repurchased approximately $26 million of its outstanding Class A common stock under a privately negotiated transaction. Repurchases under the ASR Agreement, the 10b5-1 Plan, and the privately negotiated transaction are being completed under TKO’s previously announced $2.0 billion share repurchase authorization.

“This plan to repurchase $1 billion in shares reflects our conviction in the business and the intrinsic value of our stock,” said Mark Shapiro, President and COO, TKO. “The repurchases, together with the recent 100% increase to our quarterly cash dividend program, reflect our continued commitment to a robust and sustainable capital return program. We remain focused on executing our balanced capital deployment strategy to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”
Under the ASR Agreement, on September 16, 2025, the Company will pay $800 million to Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and expects to receive an initial delivery of 3,161,430 shares of Class A common stock. The total number of shares to be repurchased pursuant to the ASR Agreement will be based on the volume-weighted average price of Class A common stock on specified dates during the term of the ASR Agreement. Transactions under the ASR Agreement are expected to be completed in December 2025.

Repurchases contemplated under the 10b5-1 Plan are to commence once transactions under the ASR Agreement are completed.
The Company intends to fund the above mentioned share repurchases with proceeds from the $1.0 billion first lien term loan borrowing that closed on September 15, 2025.

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Duke Hudson Comments on WWE’s Talent Recruitment Policies

A recent episode of the That Sweet Pop podcast featured Brendan Vink, former Duke Hudson in WWE. One of the topics discussed included Hudson’s thoughts about WWE’s talent recruitment policies when it comes to indie talent and non-wrestling athletes for their Performance Center.

“That approach does have success, but I think the proof is in the pudding. I think they were always looking to have so many of these kind of kids come through the door – because all you need is one Roman, all you need is one Bianca. But you often need a lot of the indie talent and the ‘workers’ to come through and help them, to get them ready. Because there are some people going to the main roster now who are already stars- they are already stars, they’re already doing so much better than I will ever do, they’re already so much richer than I will ever be, and God bless them, good job, they did it, and I’m happy for them, they still have so far to go and they’re just being protected well enough that you don’t see enough of their green spots. Which is what you have to do, right, they did that with Angle back in the day. He was fresh, but you put him in there with Taker, Kane, Rock, Hunter, it’s sink or swim and he swam. So it’s the same now. I do think, if I look at people like Priest, LA Knight, they’re in their 40s, they’ve only been there for a few years. The older talent who come from wrestling, there should always be a spot for them. If someone’s got enough momentum, enough popularity, there’s always gonna be a spot for that person to at least give them a go. But with the PC changing the way it has, you can see what they’re going for and history will repeat itself, they always go too far one way then they go too far the other. They’re always trying to find that happy medium.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com