Vince McMahon is reportedly making an in-character appearance on tonight’s WWE SmackDown.
As we’ve noted, it was revealed on Wednesday that WWE’s Board of Directors are investigating McMahon over a “secret $3 million settlement” he made to a former WWE paralegal that was hired in 2019. WWE Talent Relations Senior Vice President Laurinaitis is also being investigated for his involvement, and the Board is looking into other instances with former female employees as well. It was then announced today that Stephanie McMahon is returning from her leave of absence to act as the Interim CEO & Interim Chairwoman as Vince voluntarily steps away from his Chairman & CEO corporate duties, but still continues his creative responsibilities. It was also announced that Vince will be on tonight’s SmackDown episode. You can find full details at the links below, including statements from Vince and Stephanie, full details on the anonymous e-mails that led to the announcements, and more.
In an update, CNBC’s Alex Sherman reports that McMahon will address the controversy, but in-character. Sherman also noted that WWE writers were working to change the script for tonight’s SmackDown episode, which had been completed earlier this week.
This is interesting as we pointed out earlier how WWE’s announcement on Vince’s SmackDown appearance noted that “Mr. McMahon” would be appearing. This is the name they’ve often used use to keep Vince the character separate from the real Vince. It will be very interesting to see how, and why, Vince addresses the scandal as his “Mr. McMahon” character, if that really is the route they go.
Furthermore, Fightful Select notes that there has been a general reaction of frustration within WWE today, especially over the SmackDown appearance. Sources within WWE said they viewed the move as a largely superficial move.
One talent reportedly said that they saw Vince appearing on screen as a “cheap ratings ploy in the middle of something serious” and that they don’t expect much of the culture or presentation of WWE to change with McMahon still around and in control of creative. “As long as Vince McMahon still has his creative duties, nothing can change. What could possibly be different? If he asks something of Stephanie as interim CEO, is she going to say no?,” one wrestler said.
It was also said that numerous sources across multiple departments in WWE planned to communicate to higher-ups, and possibly Vince himself, that appearing on TV in-character isn’t a good idea. One wrestler feared Vince will attempt to turn this into a “Vince McMahon vs. The World” narrative that existed after the steroid trial. Many agree that this is the biggest threat to Vince’s power since then.
Regarding Stephanie returning from her leave of absence earlier than she planned, and in a different role, there is a lot of optimism among the talent as she’s well liked by many on the roster.
A top WWE talent reportedly said they didn’t really know what was going on, but that they’ve “heard in theory Stephanie McMahon is my boss, and that fucking rules.”
A female talent talking to Fightful said they think things can only get better from this point, and was hopeful that both the investigation and Stephanie as Interim CEO would lead to better treatment for women in the company, across the board. The talent went as far as to say they hope this all results in women getting treated and paid equal to men in the company.
“I imagine it won’t change much. But I love Steph. So that’s good,” said another top talent. “I imagine Vince keeps his position in creative and once the investigation is over he’ll take back over if he can.”
We noted before that many people see this being the end of Laurinaitis’ time with the company, and that is still expected, nearly unanimously. However, one source said, “as long as Vince McMahon is around, he’ll probably just come back unless he’s Vince’s latest scapegoat.” Another talent said, “From a creative aspect im hoping that things change but I doubt they will. From a business aspect I’m also hoping that things change, but also still doubt they will. Really the only thing that I think will actually change is Johnny will be fired which will be nice. Stephanie is great but I doubt she’s gonna suddenly be on board with healthcare and guaranteed contracts.”
It’s rumored that Vince’s segment will open tonight’s SmackDown at 8pm ET, but that has not been confirmed.
WWE continues to receive major mainstream media coverage for the ongoing scandal, and that will likely continue into the next few weeks or so.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. You can find links to our various updates on the McMahon – Laurinaitis situation below:
FULL COVERAGE OF THE VINCE MCMAHON – JOHN LAURINAITIS ALLEGATIONS:
– Stephanie McMahon Sends Message to WWE Staff After Today’s Huge Announcement
– Vince McMahon Announced for WWE SmackDown
– Pat McAfee Reacts to Vince McMahon Allegations, Thinks We Will Never Get the Truth
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