As many fans of theWWEwrestling brand know, Vince McMahon has been under investigation for the past few weeks. He has stepped down as CEO in the meantime, with hisdaughter Stephanie McMahontaking over during this time. Vince is not completely removed from WWE during this board investigation, however, reportedly remaining in some capacity on the creative team.
Theboard investigation into the WWE CEO and chairmanbegan with reports that McMahon had paid a paralegal at the company $3 million in hush money regarding a sexual relationship with her. Part of this is said that the paralegal’s salary doubled after the relationship began, and it has also been claimed that WWE executive John Laurinaitis was involved too. However, a new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that this is only one of several payments and sexual misconduct allegations now lobbied against Mr. McMahon.
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According to the Wall Street Journal’s report, McMahon has allegedly paid out over 12 million dollars to 4 different women at the company to cover up sexual misconduct claims and encounters. This seemingly goes all the way back to 2006, when a 10-yearWWEmanager was paid $1 million to keep quiet about a sexual relationship between her and McMahon. The next alleged payment would be to a WWE contractor in 2008, also reportedly at $1 million, as McMahon was said to send unsolicited nude photos and sexually harass her while she was on the job.
Another payment was said to have been for $7.5 million in 2018, where a former wrestler alleged that McMahon coerced her into oral sex and then demoted her and refused to renew her 2005WWE contractafter she resisted any further encounters. The aforementioned paralegal payment occurred this year, with the board’s investigation thus far concluding the relationship to be consensual.
While it remains to be seen what comes of this investigation,McMahon did issue a statement on his investigationwhen he stepped down. Specifically, he stated the following: “I have pledged my complete cooperation to the investigation by the Special Committee, and I will do everything possible to support the investigation. I have also pledged to accept the findings and outcome of the investigation, whatever they are.”
