Earlier this week, it was reported that former WWE Senior Vice President of Global Strategy and Creative Operations Patrick Dooley was quietly released from his position sometime in late July. Now, more information has been released on the matter, including who made this difficult yet unexpected decision.According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the decision for Dooley to step down from his position came from the very top. Veteran journalist Dave Meltzer called it an "Ari Emanuel-Mark Shapiro level" in TKO (WWE's parent company). No further details were provided on if Dooley's termination was part of the most recent round of budget cuts or not, or if someone will replace Dooley.Dooley first joined WWE in 2018, beginning as director of strategy. Climbing up the corporate ladder, he was admired for his outlook, including his involvement in bringing "WWE NXT" back to Full Sail University and spearheading the acquisition of Lucha Libre AAA in April of 2025. Additionally, Dooley helped secure AAA's current television deal with Fox Latin America in Mexico.His significance earned him the honorary title as the "number two" man to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, especially when dealing with non-creative matters. Meltzer additionally reported that others like Levesque were quite surprised by his dismissal.
