WWE senior executive Patrick Dooley dismissed by TKO leadership

Patrick Dooley, WWE's senior vice president of Global Strategy and Creative Operations, left the company in July 2023 as part of a budget‑cut round. Reports say the decision was made by senior executives at TKO, specifically at the Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro level, and caught many WWE staff by surprise.

Dooley, who had been Triple H's (Paul Levesque) right‑hand man on non‑creative matters, was instrumental in WWE's acquisition of Lucha Libre AAA, the FOX Latin America television deal, and the return of NXT to Full Sail University. No replacement has been announced, and WWE has not commented publicly on the departure. The move is viewed as a signal that TKO is shifting priorities away from the international expansion initiatives that Dooley helped build.