WWE founder Vince McMahon resigns one day before the Royal Rumble. New allegations had put him under massive pressure
Following new, massive and disturbing allegations in the context of his sex and hush money scandal, company founder Vince McMahon resigned on Friday, one day before the big Royal Rumble event.
The lawyers of former WWE office employee Janel Grant had previously gone public with a lawsuit against McMahon, his former confidant John Laurinaitis and WWE.
Grant accuses the 78-year-old McMahon of sex trafficking, a system of sexual and emotional abuse including rape. McMahon denies the allegations, but under the pressure of events announced his retirement from WWE and its parent company TKO, which he had still helped run as “Executive Chairman”.
Among other things, WWE had come under pressure because meat producer Slim Jim had put what WWE said was the “biggest sponsorship deal in WWE history” on hold.
Vince McMahon resigns from WWE for the second time
McMahon had already resigned in the summer of 2022 after investigative research by the Wall Street Journal revealed that McMahon had paid millions in hush money to several ex-employees to cover up various allegations. Grant was one of them.
There are several unsolved criminal allegations of sexual assault against McMahon: one concerns the alleged rape of former wrestling judge Rita Chatterton in the 1980s – with whom McMahon reached an out-of-court settlement of millions last year. In addition, an ex-WWE wrestler who has remained anonymous accuses McMahon of coercing him into performing oral sex in 2005. McMahon arranged a hush money payment of 7.5 million dollars in 2018.
Despite the massive accusations, power man McMahon fought tooth and nail against his personal downfall – in the meantime successfully
McMahon had retired at the beginning of 2023
In January 2023, McMahon used his majority shareholding to putsch his way back into the job as WWE Chairman. Daughter Stephanie, who had succeeded her father as CEO of the company, threw in the towel and left the company. The personal and professional relationship between father and daughter – who is also the husband of WWE creative director “Triple H” Paul Levesque – appears to have broken down.
In the spring of 2023, Vince McMahon then engineered a billion-dollar reorganization of WWE: The company teamed up with UFC parent company Endeavor around Ari Emmanuel, also known as a Hollywood agent.
Emmanuel kept McMahon on board, praising his expertise, gave him the job of “Executive Chairman” in the new conglomerate and enabled him to get involved in the creative side of the business again.
Last autumn, things took a new turn, which now appears in a new light: Emmanuel removed McMahon from the creative division and publicly criticized the fact that McMahon’s large shares were damaging the performance of TKO stock. McMahon then relinquished some of it. During the same period, a search of McMahon’s home by government investigators was also revealed.
Ex-employee Janel Grant with massive allegations
Now ex-employee Janel Grant has become the focus of attention: She accuses McMahon of having committed “years of sexual and emotional abuse” against her. He and former talent director Laurinaitis had also offered her like a sexual commodity within the company “for their personal pleasure and to secure deals with courted wrestlers”.
Grant was kept in an exploitative relationship of dependency with personal and professional benefits, but also with threats. Grant also accuses McMahon of passing on pornographic material featuring her to “thousands” of people against her will.
McMahon and Laurinaitis are also alleged to have raped her in a WWE conference room: The lawyers boldly describe in a statement that Grant is also alleged to have been taunted with the words “No means yes” in the process, a reversal of the MeToo movement’s motto.
According to Grant’s account, she was ultimately pressured into quitting her job and given three million dollars in hush money. Grant has now also gone public because McMahon only paid part of the money – allegedly because he accuses Grant of breaking the agreement with leaks to the press.
McMahon no longer had his former power base
After Grant went public and there were swift and tangible consequences, McMahon announced his resignation.
In a statement, McMahon explained that Grant’s allegations were riddled with “lies” and “baseless fabrications”, which he would vigorously defend himself against legally. However, he would resign from his positions at WWE and TKO “out of respect” for the company and to prevent damage to it.
The fact that McMahon is withdrawing quickly this time is obviously also due to the fact that he no longer has the same power base as before: the head of the company is now Emmanuel, McMahon has been dismissible since the TKO formation.
Additional pressure to act was created by the fact that Grant’s lawyers probably did not go public without strategic ulterior motives: Not only is this Saturday’s Royal Rumble kicking off the season in which WWE will garner the most public attention surrounding the mega-event WrestleMania in April.
WWE had also just announced a billion-dollar deal with streaming giant Netflix and the re-entry of megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a member of the company’s management – for whom another scandal hanging over McMahon would also have been a burden
