Vince McMahon announces retirement from WWE amid scandal

Vince McMahon, who recently stepped down as CEO of WWE after a barrage of misconduct allegations, has announced his retirement from WWE.

"As I approach 77 years old, I feel it’s time for me to retire as Chairman and CEO of WWE," McMahon said in a statement.

"Throughout the years, it’s been a privilege to help WWE bring you joy, inspire you, thrill you, surprise you, and always entertain you. I would like to thank my family for mightily contributing to our success, and I would also like to thank all of our past and present Superstars and employees for their dedication and passion for our brand. Most importantly, I would like to thank our fans for allowing us into your homes every week and being your choice of entertainment."

Source

I honestly never thought I'd see the day. I always assumed Vince would die at gorilla yelling instructions to Michael Cole.

For those that haven't been following the news, a little over a month ago the Wall Street Journal published an article revealing that Vince was under investigation by the WWE Board for impropriety.

The Board had received information that Vince had slept with a paralegal, passed her off to Head of Talent Relations John Laurinitus, and then paid her $3 million when she quit to stay quiet. It was also discovered that at some point after sleeping with Vince she was given a $100,000 raise.

When the story broke, Vince announced he would be temporarily stepping away from his CEO duties while the investigation was going on. At that point it seemed like Vince would probably get off with no consequences as long as the $3 million didn't come from company funds and it couldn't be proven that the raise was for "services rendered."

A few weeks later gre WSJ ran a follow up article that revealed Vince's dalliances may be more like those of Harvey Weinstein. It was reported that Vince had spent over $15 million on similar hush deals in recent years. In one instance, a former talent stated that Vince had her give him blowjob and even she refused to do it again he cut her TV time before firing her.

The hits didn't stop there. About two weeks ago a story from the early 90s resurfaced. In it the WWE's first female referee claimed that Vince raped her in his limo. The story was largely forgotten as it was a "He said, she said," scenario. The reason it reemerged however is because a credible witness stepped forward to corroborate what the referee claimed.

That brings us to this week. The WWE's weekly Monday show, Raw, opened with a bizarre segment with Titus O'Neil talking about all the good WWE does and how it's a safe haven. It should be noted that Titus O'Neil is no longer an active wrestler and is only ever brought out to get some good will from the fans. The last time he was brought out was when WWE brought Hulk Hogan back for the first time following his racist outburst.

This led many to believe that another bombshell article about Vince was going to drop. Nothing has come this week but with Vince suddenly retiring I would not be surprised if a new article is published early next week.

For a man that has weathered the murders, the cover ups, the suicides, the ODs, the steroid trial, the Benoit tragedy, the lawsuits, etc. it seems quite fitting that in the end it will be Vince who screwed Vince.

It's just another instance of a powerful man destroying his own legacy because he couldn't keep it in his pants.

Never was a big fan of wrestling but know of McMahon and have for quite some time. End of an era for sure.

He's been the CEO since its inception, right? I'm curious to see where things will go with someone new at the helm.

a reply to: RegularJo76

Technically the company was founded in 1953 by Vince's father. Vince is the one that took it national and then global.

As of now the CEO position will fall to Vince's daughter Stephanie and current president and CRO Nick Khan.

In a bit of poetic justice today marks the 28th anniversary of Vince getting exonerated in the steroid trial. Vince was so sure he was going to jail that he had drawn up papers to sign the company over to his wife and to appoint Jerry Jarrett as president.

a reply to: RegularJo76

Vince really hasn't done much for several years. He acts more like an advisor, really... the man is old!

Triple H (aka Paul Levesque, Stephanie McMahon's husband) recently retired from active wrestling; I figure he and Stephanie will be splitting the load. He has, for several years now, set up storylines where he acts as a stand-in for Vince. So I doubt anything will really change that much, except that the storylines might get better. Vince has been known to throw all of WWE's weight behind some seriously silly storylines, you know.

I didn't know about the scandals... I just heard Stephanie announce his retirement a few minutes ago on Friday Night Smackdown. I thought it was strange that Vince wasn't out there in the ring one last time himself. I'll admit a scandal about to break won;t really surprise me; WWE is a lot of fun to watch (for me) and one of my favorite TV shows, but it has always had it's dark side behind the scenes. If Vince did some of the stuff he is claimed to have done, then he should pay the price for it.

TheRedneck

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Well he destroyed wrestling so what’s left to do?

Good that he’s finally retiring. He’s always been a POS, a terrible excuse for a human being. Very misogynistic and just a terrible person all around.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

The judge should order him to withstand 100 consecutive Stone Cold stunners

And now we know why Vince retired.

The WWE just posted an 8-K filing that states they have discovered Vince used $14.6 million of company money for his hush payments and didn't report it.

The Company has made a preliminary determination that certain payments that Vince McMahon agreed to make during the period from 2006 through 2022 (including amounts paid and payable in the future), and that were not recorded in the WWE consolidated financial statements, should have been recorded as expenses in the quarters in which those agreements were made (the “Unrecorded Expenses”). As of the date hereof, the Company has identified Unrecorded Expenses totaling approximately $14.6 million. All payments underlying the Unrecorded Expenses were or will be paid by Vince McMahon personally."

Source

a reply to: Xcalibur254
Oops
Wrong account……

Is mr McMahon still the largest stockholder?

a reply to: shooterbrody

Yeah. He holds about 38% of the shares. All of his shares are Class B shares so he holds about 83% of the voting power.

a reply to: Xcalibur254
So things won’t really change much…..

a reply to: shooterbrody

We'll see. It was announced this morning that Vince's son-in-law, Triple H, will be taking over Talent Relations and will be in charge of Creative.

I know the talent are pretty happy with the change and, surprisingly, the Market seems pretty optimistic. Last I saw, stuck up almost 10% today.

That said, Vince's shares and voting power won't do him any good if he's sitting in prison for fraud.

a reply to: Xcalibur254
Fraud for what?
Using the wrong bank account?
The article states he will pay the money himself.

Oh and weren’t Paul and Stephanie already had n charge?
Lol

a reply to: Xcalibur254
Its only matter of time before WWE gets woke.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

With the first one, who cares... She made bank which is stupid...

Second one is a situation of who is the shark in the story. I find it hard to believe Vince would decide out of the blue he wants to rape an employee in a limo, especially after his first event that cost him 3 million. Now I can see that she went along with it and then said she was raped.

a reply to: shooterbrody

Paul has been ab EVP for about 10 years and Stephanie was CBO. Until all of the recent drama with Vince booth had actually stepped away from the company. Paul suffered a heart attack a few months back and Stephanie decided she wanted to spend more time at home.

But before that, it was still Vince running everything. It was a pretty regular occurrence for Vince to rewrite a show's script at the last minute because he didn't like what the writers produced. Tonight will be the first time in the 40 years since Vince bought the WWWF from his dad that he isn't the one booking the show.

And yes, fraud charges could be forthcoming. If the SEC finds evidence that Vince intentionally didn't report these payments that's a big deal.

a reply to: Xtrozero

The alleged rape occurred 30 years ago. The $3 million payment was recent but the Board has found similar payments totaling $14.6 million going back to 2006. And it sounds like the investigation still isn't over.

originally posted by: Xcalibur254

The alleged rape occurred 30 years ago. The $3 million payment was recent but the Board has found similar payments totaling $14.6 million going back to 2006. And it sounds like the investigation still isn't over.

I still question who is the shark in the story when I see these. When you take someone rich/famous there is always a circle of sharks around them looking for a chance for a quick hit. I understand that these men can also do bad things, but when you have access to very beautiful women, all you want then something like this seems less and less to happen. Now someone can go all psychological on me and say its a power trip, and maybe so, but I see the shark scenario as just, if not more, viable.