Mark Shapiro said TKO is willing to cancel WWE Crown Jewel if the Middle East conflict puts its staff in danger, even at the risk of missing its 2026 financial goals.
Shapiro addressed TKO staff during a meeting on Wednesday. Audio of the meeting was obtained and released by POST Wrestling on Friday. According to Shapiro, TKO needs to put on three more events in Saudi Arabia through December to get the results it’s expecting.
“Several goals we still need to accomplish” depend on those events, and Shapiro said it “all gets wiped away to a certain degree” if they don’t happen. “Of course, business is important, but humanity is most important.”
Shapiro promised that TKO “will not hesitate” to cancel its events if the conflict gets worse.
“Damned be our budget, because our people come first.”
During the meeting, Shapiro revealed that investors and analysts “across the Wall Street community” are worried that TKO might not be able to get through its full 2026 schedule. He said losing an event would affect TKO’s numbers “in a very negative way.”
Along with Crown Jewel, TKO has two other events in Riyadh, a Zuffa Boxing show on November 14 and a UFC Fight Night on December 5.
Lawrence Epstein, UFC’s COO, also took part in the meeting and promised that TKO will never put its employees “in harm’s way” to run these events.
Shapiro’s remarks came after Ari Emanuel said TKO is monitoring the situation in Saudi Arabia daily and looking at other options in case Crown Jewel has to be moved.
Crown Jewel is still scheduled for November 7 in Riyadh.